By James Haldane, Executive Editor |
Photo: Alex Penfold. Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s. |
For most artists, choosing a medium means reaching for paint, pencil or plaster. But a handful have turned to something less conventional: the car. From Sonia Delaunay to Alexander Calder, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, artists have treated the automobile as a moving canvas, using color and image to make us look again at a familiar machine.
In 1996, legendary automobile designer Gordon Murray reversed the usual sequence, creating a one-off McLaren F1 in a unique pop-art-inspired livery. Rather than applying art to a finished car, Murray conceived image and machine together, using bold color, oversized lettering and a strong graphic treatment to give the car its unmistakable visual identity. Ahead of chassis 10R’s appearance at RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction on August 15, with an estimate in excess of $35 million, I interviewed Murray about the artistic instincts behind his effort to create an art car for a new age.
Elsewhere, Bulgari’s new Serpenti Aeterna watch sets sapphire, amethyst, topaz, emerald, aquamarine, peridot and other gemstones into a brilliant circuit of color. |
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Photo: Alex Penfold. Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s. |
The McLaren F1 GTR chassis no. 10R is striking for its immediacy: a blood-red body set against yellow wheels and the oversized “GTR” script derived from Gordon Murray’s own handwriting. Conceived as McLaren’s press and development prototype, this was how the marque chose to introduce the 1996 GTR to the world—not as a neutral racing chassis awaiting sponsorship, but as a resolved and charged visual object. |
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Bulgari’s new Serpenti Aeterna watch sparkles with a combination of sapphire, amethyst, topaz, emerald, aquamarine, peridot and other colorful gemstones. |
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Our calendar of must-see exhibitions |
Olalekan Jeyifous, “Hydricosmic Ferrier,” (2025). Courtesy the artist. |
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