A quick and simple internet search for “car art” will throw up a wide range of excellent examples showing the many different forms and styles of the medium. Without a doubt, there is a great deal of variety in the pantheon of car art, from simple, bold depictions of cars in close-up – which concentrate very specifically on the simple look of the car – to action shots showing a car mid-race. The latter are extremely popular, in no small part due to the widespread love of motor sport.

For some, cars are purely functional entities. Many people are more concerned by what is under the bonnet than the look of the car, and with plenty of justification. When it comes down to it, a car needs to be able to move after all. But there is no point in denying the style and class of some cars. The owner of a classic car may well have every intention of driving it in everyday life, but it is not just the technical excellence and mechanical viability of the car that holds their interest. As much as anything, they will be captivated by the lines and the aesthetic touches of the vehicle.

Cars are perhaps unique in their ability to at once be a means of transport, or something totally practical and pragmatic, and at the same time to be a work of art, something that we can look at and appreciate aesthetically. This is a testament both to the importance of the car, and the necessity for good artists to depict it.