The Rolls-Royce Phantom, the longtime flagship in esteemed British luxury marque’s lineup, turns 100 this year, marking an opportunity for centennial celebrations that extend beyond just the automotive industry and, in the case of the Rolls-Royce’s latest announcement, the world of modern art.
Among the many 20th century greats who preferred to travel in the classic coach cars include Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Christian Berard and Cecil Beaton. Dali and Warhol in particular were massive fans of luxobarges topped with the Spirit of Ecstasy—the ornament itself having been designed by prolific English sculptor Charles Robinson Sykes.
Dali produced an artwork for a 1934 illustrated book Les Chants de Maldoror featuring his interpretation of a Phantom stranded in a bleak, icy landscape. But more notably, the publicity-savvy Spanish surrealist involved the model in one of his infamously quirky stunts. Upon arriving at Paris-Sorbonne University to give a guest lecture for a crowd of 2,000 in the winter of 1955, he flung open the suicide doors of a yellow Phantom filled with with 1,100 pounds of cauliflower that naturally cascaded to the ground around the his feet. As an homage to the quintessentially absurd Dali moment, Rolls-Royce commissioned an original artwork inspired by the eccentric act.
While Warhol didn’t incorporate a Phantom directly into his work (though he did silkscreen print a pre-WWII Mercedes grand prix car), he, unlike Dali, actually owned one. The Pop Art legend spotted a 1937 model that had been converted into a shooting brake at an antique shop in Zurich, where it was on sale. Warhol bought it on the spot and shipped it to New York. He owned the car until 1978, when he sold it to his friend and manager, Fred Hughes. As a tribute to both Warhol and the genre he helped spearhead, Rolls-Royce has commissioned a contemporary artist to reimagine the Phantom in Warhol’s inimitable style.
In addition to the Phantom, Warhol also famously owned a milk chocolate brown a 1974 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, which was previously featured in a Petersen Automotive Museum eshibit Andy Warhol: CARS from the Mercedes Benz Art Collection, the first showcase of Andy Warhol’s Cars series in North America since its 1988 debut at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.
Given this rich history, expect the Phantom to serve as artists’ catalysts, subjects and canvases many more times in the coming decades.