''Cars'' is a series of artworks by the American artist

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the Art movement, visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore th ...

, commissioned by

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

in 1986. A German art dealer, Hans Meyer, commissioned the first painting, of a 300SL coupe, to celebrate the 1986 centenary of the invention of the motor car. When Mercedes-Benz saw the result, it commissioned the entire series, which was to track the evolution of its designs from the

Benz Patent-Motorwagen The Benz Patent-Motorwagen ("patent motorcar"), built in 1885 by the German Carl Benz, is widely regarded as the world's first practical modern automobile and was the first car put into series production. It was patented and unveiled in 1886. T ...

1885, Daimler Motor Carriage (1886), and

Mercedes 35 hp The Mercedes (german: Mercedes ) was a radical early car model designed in 1901 by Wilhelm Maybach and Paul Daimler, for Emil Jellinek. Produced in Stuttgart, Germany, by Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG), it began the Mercedes line of car ...

(1901), to the

Mercedes-Benz W125 The Mercedes-Benz W125 was a Grand Prix racing car designed by Rudolf Uhlenhaut to race during the 1937 Grand Prix season. The car was used by Rudolf Caracciola to win the 1937 European Championship and W125 drivers also finished in the second, t ...

, and the

Mercedes-Benz C111 The Mercedes-Benz C111 was a series of experimental automobiles produced by Mercedes-Benz in the 1960s and 1970s. The company was experimenting with new engine technologies, including Wankel engines, diesel engines, and turbochargers, and u ...

. Now part of Mercedes-Benz's corporate art collection, ''Cars'' was unfinished at the time of Warhol's death in 1987. Warhol completed 36 silkscreen prints and 13 drawings of eight Mercedes models before his death. Warhol had planned to cover 20 models in 80 pieces. The series was based on photographs of cars, and were the first non-American designed objects that Warhol had portrayed in his work. ''Cars'' has been exhibited just twice in its entirety in public: in

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in three ...

in 1988, and at the Albertina, Vienna from 22 January–16 May 2010. Half of the series was shown in Milton Keynes in September 2001. ''Cars'' was Warhol's second automotive art project. In 1979 Warhol was commissioned by BMW to paint a Group 4 race version of the then elite supercar BMW M1 for the fourth installment in the

BMW Art Car Project The BMW Art Car Project was introduced by the French racecar driver and auctioneer Hervé Poulain, who wanted to invite an artist to create a canvas on an automobile. In 1975, Poulain commissioned American artist and friend Alexander Calder to pain ...

. Unlike the three artists before him, Warhol declined the use of a small scale practice model, instead opting to immediately paint directly onto the full scale automobile. It was indicated that Warhol spent only a total of 23 minutes painting the entire car. Warhol's work for Mercedes-Benz and his similar commissions for

Perrier Perrier ( , also , ) is a French brand of natural bottled water, bottled mineral water obtained at its source in Vergèze, located in the Gard ''département''. Perrier is known for its carbonation and its distinctive green bottle. Perrier w ...

have been criticized as "undistinguished glitz", with critics lamenting Warhol's "passionate avarice", accusing him of crossing the line into advertisements for their subjects.

References

{{Andy Warhol 1987 paintings Paintings by Andy Warhol Painting series Polyptychs Mercedes-Benz Unfinished paintings