Art and Brands

Is it possible to pair important automotive brands with artists? In The Key 2018, the TCCT Yearbook, we published a wonderful interview with one of the world’s greatest art collectors. He suggested some unions, and we would like to propose them once again today while we await the release of this year’s edition of The Key. For him, the elegant magic of Matisse’s famous dance is a perfect match for Maserati while the American Chevrolet Corvette fits squarely with Warhol’s Pop Art. Italian Futurism was in line with the spartan sportiness of Ettore Bugatti, especially Alberto Boccioni’s famous sculpture, “Unique Forms of Continuity in Space”, while the Fontana cuts associate well with the aggressiveness of the Lamborghini Miura. For BMW, there was no answer. Or rather, BMW does not need any parallel when it had its racing cars painted by some of the most influential artists of the past century. And Rolls Royce? Here, the association with this most regal British automobile brand goes to one of the great masters: none other than Rembrandt, while the ice-cold Mercedes was compared to an artist with unflinching rigour, Anselm Kiefer. And what about Ferrari? The answer is truly magnificent: Ferrari, over the years, has changed styles and models but has always remained the same. It is similar in this regard to Picasso who constantly reinvented himself. Wonderful, interesting. The Key never fails to surprise. The next issue will no doubt continue this tradition.

The allure of the impossible parallels: the capacity to renovate itself constantly, through change, of Picasso and Ferrari.

Maserati and Matisse share a unique desire for harmony.

Anselm Kiefer’s austere and fascinating strength can be associated to the most iconic Mercedes-Benz model.

Playful American Pop Art well meets the fantasy of vintage US cars.

The Fontana cuts associate well with Gandini’s design of the Lamborghini Miura, but especially with the stretched lines of the Espada and Countach.

The majestic Rolls, with its royal origins, bring the classic such as Rembrandt back to memory.

Ettore Bugatti, an Italian in Alsace, was the perfect interpreter of the Futurist movement, which had speed among its myths.