Peter Lyon
March 9, 2026
A unique exhibition will soon grace the famous stretches of the Champs-Élysées in Paris. Until 26 April 2026, the défilé renault – which translates best as ‘the carwalk’ – opens its doors to the Pop Art Car exhibition.
Conceived with the Renault Fund for Art and Culture, it weaves a dialogue between Pop Art, Urban Art, and the automobile. Renault celebrates the union of art and popular culture, unveiling for the occasion a 2008 work by Invader never previously shown to the general public.
“With Pop Art Car, we celebrate the unique place Renault holds in popular culture. Renault has always belonged to the street, to people, to the images that define our era. This exhibition captures that energy: the car becomes creative material, a pop motif, a canvas for expression. It shows how design, innovation and creativity feed one another,” says Arnaud Belloni – Renault’s Global Marketing Director.
Meanwhile Catherine Gros, President of the Renault Fund for Art and Culture, commented that, ”Pop and urban artists have always worked in close contact with everyday visual culture. Cars are objects of daily life, but also emotional icons that have inspired artists for nearly a century. Presenting these works alongside the show cars allows a new reading of popular culture to emerge and reminds us that art, like the automobile, belongs to everyone.”
Renault tells us that by reinterpreting the codes of mass culture (bold colour, seriality, advertising, everyday objects) Pop Art accompanied the rise of the car as a symbol of modernity, freedom and social change.
From the 1970s onwards, Street Art took up this torch, planting it firmly in the street. A direct heir to Pop Art, it claims public space, spontaneity, speed of execution and immediate legibility: an art shared by all, rooted in urban everyday life and nourished by comics, music, graffiti, popular codes and counter-cultures.
It is this fertile dialogue, between Pop Art, Street Art and the automobile, that the Pop Art Car exhibition brings to light at the Défilé Renault. By bringing these two artistic languages together, the exhibition tells a living story: that of an art that seizes the real, speaks to everyone, and transforms everyday objects, the car among them, into genuine cultural icons.
An exhibition bringing together masters of pop culture and new contemporary urban voices
The encounter between art and the automobile is far from new at Renault. As early as the 1960s, the brand opened its factories to artists and photographers to document, subvert and reveal the power of industrial material in new ways. This founding dialogue shaped an exceptional collection, featuring the likes of Doisneau, Arman, Erró, Vasarely and Dubuffet.
This heritage is the mission of the Renault Fund for Art and Culture, established in 2024: to preserve, enrich and make it accessible to the widest possible audience.
In 2025, a new milestone was reached with the creation of the Renault Art Factory, installed at the heart of the Flins plant, in a former paint workshop transformed into an artist residency spanning 3,200 m². An architectural and symbolic reinvention: a former automotive production space becomes a site for in-situ creation, where artists work in direct contact with labour history, original industrial volumes and mechanical artefacts left in place.
The car as art object: show cars, design and iconic reinventions
The Carwalkramp, inspired by racing circuits and designed by architect Franklin Azzi is to become a spectacular exhibition space that will feature several hybrid show car creations blending art, design, and innovation. These cars include:
- Suite N°4 by Mathieu Lehanneur (2021)
Created to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the Renault 4, the SUITE N°4 concept by designer Mathieu Lehanneur — who also designed the torch and cauldron for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
- R5 reimagined by Pierre Gonalons (2022)
For the fiftieth anniversary of the Renault 5, Renault partnered with French designer Pierre Gonalons to create an original electric show car. The result: a pop icon transformed into a rolling jewel, reinterpreting the boldness of the seventies through a 100% electric lens.
- Twingo by Sabine Marcelis (2023)
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Twingo, Renault commissioned Dutch designer Sabine Marcelis to revisit this iconic model around its three most recognisable traits: its silhouette, its distinctive headlights, and its modular interior.
- Bourgeon and Accrescent by Dan Rawlings (2024)
In 2024, British street artist Dan Rawlings spent several weeks in residence at the heart of the ElectriCity plant in Douai, creating two original poetic works from a Renault 5 E-Tech electric and a classic Renault 5. The result was the sculptural poems Bourgeon and Accrescent.
- R17 Electric Restomod x Ora Ïto (2024)
In collaboration with Renault’s design team, globe-trotting designer Ora Ïto has created an electric automotive sculpture blending seventies heritage with pure futurism.
- Renault 5 Turbo 3E Show Car (2022)
Foreshadowing the production Renault 5 Turbo 3E, this show car was unveiled at the 2022 Paris Motor Show as an electric reinterpretation of the original Renault 5 Turbo — combining unapologetic exuberance with top-level performance, with a strong focus on fun and gaming culture.
- Filante Record 2025
The Renault Filante Record 2025 draws inspiration from the record-breaking 40 CV of 1925 and the Étoile Filante of 1956, both of which set landmark records in their day.
CARLIST THOUGHTS
With the Pop Art Car exhibition, the Carwalk reaffirms its role as a living cultural venue, where art spills beyond gallery walls to meet visitors along the Champs-Élysées. This unique Paris destination combines a showroom presenting the brand’s latest models (Twingo E-Tech electric, Clio 6) alongside the current range (Renault 4 E-Tech electric, Renault 5 E-Tech electric, Scenic E-Tech electric and Rafale), as well as a café and a boutique stocking The Originals merchandise., Clio 6).
