Artist Frank Stella together with Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, David Hockney, Robert Rauschenberg, and several other leaders of the pop art cause in producing a BMW art car. The collection of 17 fomites is on exhibit at the BMW Museum in Munich through late September. But it was not canvas. as a matter of fact, it was the metallic coats of a group of BMW cars, and jointly, for over 35 years, they shaped one of the most strange and improbable collections of all time.

These are the BMW art cars, a collection of 17 works by those world-famous artists and other leaders in the pop art movement. While most of the great works by these masterminds hang still on walls or stands around the world, some of these works have in fact called for the track at races like Le Mans.

But, suitably, it started with a kinetic artist, Calder. He was asked by his friend Herve Poulain in 1973 as to whether he was interested in painting a race car? Calder, the world’s most famous creator of mobiles resolved to take on the challenge. “It had always been the dearest wish of [auctioneer and race driver Poulain to add 'artistic beauty to an already perfect object such as a racing car. And this was in the middle of the oil crisis, too, a time when the automobile was viewed critically. Poulain acknowledged that it would need a 'genius' to realize his idea. He found him in Alexander Calder."

An official article put out by BMW about the art cars continues to state that "The task of developing a large idea on a small scale was nothing new to Calder. In 1973, he had had a jetliner painted in a similar way [and soon Calder was] painting a model on a scale of 1 to 5.”

According to BMW, Jeff Koons was given two BMWs in exchange for adding his masterpiece to the series. “Is this a bad deal for Koons, whose ‘Balloon Flowers’ has just been auctioned for $25.7 million?’ demands the BMW article. Koons said no: “I have always thought that it would be an honor to design a BMW art car. I am delighted to be able to continue a tradition which was founded by such prominent artists as Calder, Lichtenstein, Stella, and Warhol.”

Over and above the works by the world-famous artists referred above, the collection also comprises art cars by Ernst Fuchs, Matazo Kayama, Cesar Manrique, A.R. Penck, Esther Mahlangu, Sandro Chia, Jenny Holzer, and two Australians, Ken Done and Michael Jagamara Nelson.

The Australian offers take on two of that country’s fashions–a Western motif, and an aboriginal. In general, although, the collection braces an enormously extensive set of modes, and even applies an extensive collection of BMWs, including one of the company’s most ill-famed cars ever, its M1. That’s Warhol’s car.

Being Warhol, there is certainly a humorous story about his car. BMW had employed a TV crew to manuscript the artist’s work, but Warhol ended painting the M1 in just 28 minutes, and the crew had not even got in. He finished up having to insert a few small points just so they could be caught on film.

One question that we will have on mind when viewing the cars is whether ‘the artists were paid for their work, or whether it was a mutually beneficial, but non-remunerative partnership. In a way, it is both.’

If you ever happen to be in Munich before the end of September, it is very much recommended that you check out the collection.