Page Dimensions

Approx. 6 5/8" x 10" (17cm x 25cm)

Story and Details

German engineers who design the inner workings of these cars are typically seen as stuffy, humorless, and boring. Nothing you see in this ad is boring. And if there was ever a BMW advertisement destined to be framed, it has to be this one... BMW started their Art Car program in 1975 with Alexander Calder and a BMW 3.0 CSL, the fun yellow, red, and blue #93 at the top of the stack here. This is a program that they continue almost 50 years later with the most recent entry being designed by Julie Mehretu in 2024. Some of the most influential artists of the 20th century, and some of my personal favorites, have liveried cars for BMW including Warhol in ’79, Ernst Fuchs in ’82, David Hockney in ’95, and Jeff Koons in 2010. Back to the ad... the other two working down the stack shown are another 3.0 CSL from 1976 by Frank Stella and a 320i Turbo from 1977 by Roy Lichtenstein. Of the three shown here, Frank Stella's geometric design over a graph paper like design is by far my favorite, despite it putting me back in Algebra II sophomore year of high school.