Daimler Motorkutsche (1886) & Benz Patent-Motorwagen (1886),
Daimler Motorkutsche (1886) &
Benz Patent-Motorwagen (1886), 1986
94 1/4 × 252 1/8 inches
signed and dated 'Andy Warhol 86' (on the overlap)
Literature
To be included in the forthcoming Volume of The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné, Paintings and Sculptures, Edited by Georg Frei and Neil Printz, New York.
Andy Warhol Cars, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1988, no. 15, reproduced in full page color
Galerie Hans Mayer, Düsseldorf
Joseph K. Levene Fine Art, Ltd., New York
Private Collection, New York
Miura Hotel Art Collection, on long term loan to the Albertina Museum, Klosterneuburg
Exhibitions
Andy Warhol Cars, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, September 30 to November 27, 1988
Warhol, Lhoták, Pištěk and others: The Automobile Through the Ages, Kampa Museum, Prague, October 13, 2014 - January 3, 2015
Pop Art. The Bright Side of Life, Albertina Museum, Klosterneuburg, April 10 – August 22, 2024
Daimler Motorkutsche (1886) & Benz Patent-Motorwagen (1886) (1987) belongs to Andy Warhol’s celebrated but unfinished Mercedes-Benz Cars series. In 1986, following a commission to paint the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, Warhol was invited to create a cycle tracing the historical development of the brand in celebration of the centenary of the automobile, pioneered by Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz.
Warhol’s death in February 1987 left the project incomplete. Of the intended 80 works depicting 20 historic vehicles, he completed 36 paintings and screenprints and 13 drawings. The series begins with the earliest automobiles of 1886—the Daimler Motorkutsche and the Benz Patent-Motorwagen—followed by later icons including 1920s classics, the 1937 W125 racing car, and the futuristic C111 concept.
Conceived with varied color palettes and formats, the series includes only four paintings now held in private collections. With its exceptional scale (234 × 640 cm), Daimler Motorkutsche (1886) und Benz Patent-Motorwagen (1886) stands out as a monumental tribute to the transformative invention of the automobile.
