Hervé Poulain (born 16 December 1940) is a retired French

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

, author, and auctioneer. He is best known today as the instigator of the BMW Art Car project. Poulain's idea was to invite contemporary artists to use new automobiles, which he raced at the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...

. In 1975, BMW commissioned Poulain's friend

Alexander Calder Alexander "Sandy" Calder (; July 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976) was an American sculptor known both for his innovative mobile (sculpture), mobiles (kinetic sculptures powered by motors or air currents) that embrace chance in their aesthetic, hi ...

to paint the first BMW Art Car. This first example would be a BMW 3.0 CSL 'Batmobile' which Poulain himself would race in the 1975 24 Hours of Le Mans. Poulain drove Calder's BMW with Jean Guichet and Sam Posey, although the car suffered driveshaft issues and was retired early, and never raced again. Calder died a year later in 1976. In 1976,

Frank Stella Frank Philip Stella (May 12, 1936 – May 4, 2024) was an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker, noted for his work in the areas of minimalism and post-painterly abstraction. He lived and worked in New York City for much of his career befor ...

painted a BMW 3.0 CSL for the 1976 24 Hours of Le Mans. It was driven by

Brian Redman Brian Herman Thomas Redman (born 9 March 1937) is a British retired racing driver. Racing for Carl Haas and Jim Hall's Chaparral Cars, Brian Redman won the 1974, '75 and '76 SCCA Formula 5000 series and has raced in nearly every category of ...

and Peter Gregg. In 1977, Poulain drove the

Roy Lichtenstein Roy Fox Lichtenstein ( ; October27, 1923September29, 1997) was an American pop artist. He rose to prominence in the 1960s through pieces which were inspired by popular advertising and the comic book style. Much of his work explores the relations ...

's Art Car, a Group 5

BMW 320i Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. The ...

, which 9th overall and first in its class at the 1977 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 1978, BMW asked Andy Warhol to paint a black

for the

1978 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1978 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 46th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 10 and 11 June 1978. In many ways it was a continuation of the race from the year before – the two main protagonists would be the very evenly-matched works tea ...

, but the model was changed and failed to qualify for the race. In 1979, Warhol painted a

BMW M1 The BMW M1 (model code E26) is a Mid-engine design, mid-engined sports car produced by German automotive manufacturer BMW from 1978 until 1981. In the late 1970s, Italian automobile manufacturer Lamborghini entered into an agreement with BMW to ...

Group 4 Group 4 may refer to: *Group 4 element Group 4 is the second group of transition metals in the periodic table. It contains only the four elements titanium (Ti), zirconium (Zr), hafnium (Hf), and rutherfordium (Rf). The group is also called the t ...

racing version that was more successful at the 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Poulain, Manfred Winkelhock and Marcel Mignot behind the wheel. They completed 288 laps at the Sarthe circuit, coming in 6th overall, and 2nd in their class. During the course of that race the car made contact with other cars several times. Warhol had painted spare bumpers and body panels, which were necessary.

References

1940 births Living people French racing drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers {{France-autoracing-bio-stub