American Jeff Koons is the latest artist to create a BMW Art Car – the 17th such car since the series began in 1975. His highly colourful BMW M3 GT2 will be presented to the public on 1 June at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, before heading to Le Mans to take part in this year’s 24 Hours.

Koons recently released his preliminary design concept, explaining how he collected images of race cars and graphics and layered them into a digital collage, depicting vibrant colours and speed. The resulting graphic – “evocative of power, motion and light” – shows rays of light in strong colours on a black background, set against the car’s silver interior.

The design process has involved many months of collaboration with BMW’s team in Munich. We’re told Koons even donned a helmet and joined BMW’s American Le Mans Series race team for February testing at Sebring.

The aim was to inspire Koons by experiencing the M3 GT2 at race speed. Although he did not drive the car himself, he witnessed the car’s “raw, unfiltered performance” from the seat of a historic BMW M1 racer. He also drove a BMW M3 Coupé on the circuit.

Text: Charis Whitcombe
Photos: BMW