Artist Julie Mehretu has been chosen to customize the 20th BMW Art Car ahead of its entry into the 24 Hour race of Le Mans in 2024.

The stage: the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City. The canvas: the BMW M Hybrid V8. The artist: New York-based artist Julie Mehretu, a MacArthur Award and the US Department of State Medal of Arts Award recipient with works exhibited at LACMA, Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Walker Museum of Art.
Julie Mehretu
Unanimously chosen by an international jury of museum directors and curators, the announcement of the 20th BMW Art Car was staged at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Mehretu will have carte blanche to embellish the latest “rolling sculpture”? the 640-hp BMW M Hybrid V8, capable of track speeds upward of 215 mph ? ahead of its appearance in the 24-Hour race of Le Mans in June 2024.
Since 1975, the German automaker has invited artists from all over the world to participate in the BMW Art Cars collection, an initiative born from French racing driver and art lover Hervé Poulain, who, in collaboration with then Head of BMW Motorsport, Jochen Neerpasch, asked his artist friend Alexander Calder to paint an automobile. The result was a BMW 3.0 CSL, a vehicle that went onto compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1975, adorned by Calder’s artistic touch.
Since then, the likes of Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Jenny Holzer, David Hockney, Cao Fei, and John Baldessari have...