BMW celebrates 50 years of the Art Cars project, the largest exhibition arrives in Denmark

When a car becomes a canvas for the finest artists of the era, it is not tuning, but history. As part of the world tour celebrating the 50th anniversary of the BMW Art Cars project, an exhibition has opened in Denmark, already hailed as the largest in Northern Europe. This is not just a car exhibition, but a part of modern culture, where metal and color speak of the changing eras.

The BMW Art Cars project began in 1975 on the initiative of French auctioneer and race car driver Hervé Poulain. Since then, the company has attracted major names from the art world to transform sports and production models into unique objects. From March 27 to June 21, 2026, 11 legendary cars are on display at the Classic Car House (CCH) museum in Lyngby, north of Copenhagen.

The exhibition covers almost the entire history of the series. Here, visitors can see early works such as Frank Stella’s 1976 BMW 3.0 CSL, as well as modern pieces like Jeff Koons’ BMW M3 GT2. Special emphasis is placed on the 1990s, represented by six cars, including David Hockney’s elegant 850 CSi and A.R. Penck’s Z1.

The complete list of exhibits in Lyngby is as follows:

In addition to full-size cars, BMW is displaying ten original models for the first time. These are scale models that artists used as sketches before transferring their ideas to real metal. For brand enthusiasts, this may be the most interesting part of the exhibition, as it features a rare camouflaged version of Andy Warhol’s M1, seldom shown to the public before.

These models allow visitors to trace the evolution of ideas by masters such as Alexander Calder, Robert Rauschenberg, and Julie Mehretu. Mehretu created her art car recently, in 2024.

The visit to the Classic Car House is one of the final stages of the world tour. The anniversary series will conclude in August 2026 with a major exhibition in Munich, where all existing art cars of the brand will be gathered. But for residents and visitors of Scandinavia, the current event is the best opportunity to see the collection live without unnecessary crowds.