BMWBLOG was invited to Paris where the #20 BMW Art Car celebrated its world premiere last night. The special event took place at Centre Pompidou where the colorful M Hybrid V8 was joined by the artist. Naturally, Ethiopian-born Julie Mehretu shared the spotlight with her rolling work of art. She took inspiration from Everywhen painting when designing the abstract pattern.

We couldn’t miss the opportunity to get up close with the endurance race car and its special wrap we’ll be seeing more of soon. After its first outing in France’s capital, the M Hybrid V8 is heading to the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in Italy. Come June 15, it’ll be at the start of this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. Carrying the “20” racing number, the V12 LMR’s spiritual successor will attempt to triumph on Circuit de la Sarthe. Doing so would be a great way to celebrate a quarter of a century since the V12 LMR crossed the finish line victoriously.

The M Hybrid V8 was already an eye-catching endurance racer but now it should turn heads even more. Julie Mehretu was voted to design the new BMW Art Car in 2018, several years before working on Everywhen. The striking finish was obtained after modifying digital photos and superimposing them in multiple layers of dot grids. She says the end result represents “a remix, a mash-up of the painting.”

The official images don’t do the M Hybrid V8 Art Car justice since the real deal better reflects the artist’s talent. The electrified endurance racer joins a select club of BMW-backed art cars, a tradition that started in 1975. There have been multiple race cars that have received the artsy treatment throughout the years. In fact, more than half of them were based on track-only machines. That said, Andy Warhol’s M1 from 1979 remains our favorite.