Future Exhibitions

Man posed looking to the side wearing an intricate gold robe with large round gold buttons and matching gold hat.

Venice and the Ottoman Empire

May 31–Sep 1, 2025
Venice and the Ottoman Empire invites us on a journey to the Mediterranean Sea between 1400 and 1800. During this period, Venice—an astonishing city built on hundreds of small islands off the coast of northeast Italy—stood at the crossroads of a vast trade network connecting Africa, Asia, and Europe. To… Read More
Close up of a group of gourds of varying shapes and sizes

Ellen Altfest: Forever

May 31–Sep 1, 2025
American representational painter Ellen Altfest paints directly from observation, often working on a single painting over the course of months or years. In meticulously rendering the surface qualities of objects that she feels have been overlooked in art and life—from the rough textures of rocks and tree bark to expanses… Read More
Colorful quilt with pink peacock in the middle with flowers surrounding it.

Fabric of a Nation:
American Quilt Stories

Jun 27–Oct 12, 2025
Seen by many as a timeless, democratic art form, the quilt has evolved throughout United States history and continues to develop today. Made by a broadly under-recognized diversity of artistic hands and minds, the medium offers an opportunity to tell a rich and complicated story of our shared and contested… Read More

Avenues to a Great City

Jul 4–Dec 29, 2025
The Civic Design Center and the Frist Art Museum have partnered to create Avenues to a Great City, on view in the Conte Community Arts Gallery this summer. Visitors are invited to consider the complex art of civic design through an exploration of the growth of Nashville as envisioned in the… Read More
figure dressed in long strand of blue and pink jute like material with a tall painted wood mask with a beak like nose with two deer stacked on top

New African Masquerades: Artistic Innovations and Collaborations

Oct 10, 2025–Jan 4, 2026
New African Masquerades: Artistic Innovations and Collaborations highlights the stories of four contemporary masquerade artists, their motivations, artistic choices, and the patronage and economic networks with which they engage. Through the presentation of works of Chief Ekpenyong Bassey Nsa (Nigeria), David Sanou (Burkina Faso), Sheku “Goldenfinger” Fofanah (Sierra Leone), and Hervé… Read More
A young Paul McCartney holding a camera taking a photo of himself in a mirror

Paul McCartney Photographs 1963–1964: Eyes of the Storm

Nov 7, 2025–Jan 26, 2026
Organized by the National Portrait Gallery, London, this exhibition is an intimate and historic opportunity to see the extraordinary archive of recently discovered photographs taken by Paul McCartney between December 1963 and February 1964. Over the course of these three short months, the Beatles—Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and… Read More