Few cars are as recognizable or iconic as Andy Warhol’s BMW M1 Art Car, and now it’s being added to a prestigious collection. We’re not talking about a well-heeled collector buying the vehicle but instead it will be added to the National Historic Vehicle Register, as announced by the Hagerty Drivers Foundation and BMW North America recently.
While the colorful classic supercar is touring the US, documentation for it will be archived in the US Library of Congress. It’s the 37th vehicle to be added to the National Historic Vehicle Register, so it’s in an elite group.
Warhol, who was in an experimental phase of his career where abstraction and gestural painting were prominent, originally approached BMW about painting a 320i which was going to be entered into the 1978 24 Hours of Le Mans.
However, the German automaker wasn’t a fan of the flowery mauve pattern over jet black he wanted to apply to the racecar, especially since he wanted to cover the windows. It instead asked him to paint a new prototype M1.
The artist said his erratic paint job, which consisted of over thirteen pounds of paint applied to the supercar in a mere 28 minutes, was representative of a racecar in motion. That was apparently why the paint was applied not only with brushes but also the artist’s hands, with drip marks and scratches in the finished product.
Some might describe BMW Art Car No. 4 as messy or even a lazy attempt at art. But for many who have seen it in person or in countless publications, it’s come to represent so much more.
Not everyone feels Warhol was an artistic genius, nor are they fans of his pop art style. However, his work has been adopted enough into the cultural zeitgeist that his contribution to the BMW Art Car collection.
Images via BMW
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