When Bert Ernie first saw the Mercedes CLR racecar he thought it was the epitome of purposeful design in the automotive field. It was an evolution of the previous model (the CLK LM) and was so singly-minded a racing car.
Mark Webber backflipped twice in this car at Le Mans in 1999.
Apparently only two examples survive. For me that’s a shame because it is incredibly beautiful. And dangerous. Hence the title of the painting – Fast, beautiful, dangerous.
One of Bert’s earliest paintings. It still stands up in terms of its quality.
Dimensions: 62x91cm
Painted: 1999
Materials: Acrylic on MDF board
Private collection
The story behind Fast beautiful dangerous Mercedes CLR racecar
This is the Mercedes CLR racing car which had flipped over three times at Le Mans in 1999. So hence it was given the title – ‘fast beautiful dangerous.’ One of the most common subjects in photorealist paintings are cars. However, they are usually rendered without any people in the picture – Bert has shown a propensity for doing things with his own style. Here the Mercedes CLR racecar is surrounded by many people – drivers, officials, and mechanics.
Mark Webber will remember this car quite well – he performed two separate backflips in one of these Mercedes CLR’s.
Source image: Racecar Engineering
Source image of realism painting Fast beautiful dangerous Mercedes CLR racecar
Detail views of realism painting Fast beautiful dangerous Mercedes CLR racecar
