Upcoming Exhibitions

November 23rd

The Human Zoo by Kent Monkman

Experience the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art’s latest acquisition: The Human Zoo (2015) by Cree artist Kent Monkman (b. 1965).

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Kent Monkman, The Human Zoo, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Museum Purchase. 2022.7a-e

February 15th - April 30th

Art Builds Creativity

This dynamic exhibition features artwork created by the Memphis-area students who participated in the 2022-23 Art Builds Creativity (ABC) program.

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January 27 - October 29, 2023

Tommy Kha: Eye is Another

This site-specific, photography-based installation by artist Tommy Kha explores themes of identity, (in)visibility, and sense of place and is presented as part of the inaugural, state-wide Tennessee Triennial for Contemporary Art organized by Tristar Arts.

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Tommy Kha, 'Eye is Another', 2022-23, Inkjet prints on Photo Tex, dimensions variable

March 10 - June 25, 2023

Harmonia Rosales: Master Narrative

Through her visceral paintings that weave the tales of West African Yorùbà religion, Greco-Roman mythology, and Christianity with artistic techniques of European Old Masters, Harmonia Rosales rewrites the narrative from her perspective in a way that bridges the vastest of oceans and collapses the passing of millennia.

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Harmonia Rosales, 'Migration of the Gods', 2021 Oil with iron oxide and 24 karat gold leaf on Belgian linen mounted on wood panel 36 × 72 in. Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Museum purchase, 2022.2

New Acquisition

Memphis on the Mississippi (Ode to Tom Lee)

To further build Memphis' Art Collection, the Brooks has commissioned the Memphis-based artist Carl E. Moore to create a work inspired by our soon-to-be new location Downtown on the banks of the Mississippi River.

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Carl E. Moore, 'Memphis on the Mississippi (Ode to Tom Lee)', 2022. Acrylic on canvas.

Through February, 2023

Henry Ossawa Tanner: The Thankful Poor

This work is one of the artist's last known “genre” paintings—images that depict everyday or ordinary domestic scenes—before he transitioned almost exclusively to religious scenes.

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Henry Ossawa Tanner, American, 1859 - 1937, 'The Thankful Poor', 1894, oil on canvas

January 4 - August 29

Art of the African Diaspora

As conversations around the African Diaspora shift and evolve, so too will this display, aided by the museum actively acquiring works that reflect these varied, global experiences.

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Currently on view

Power and Absence

This reimagining of the Schilling Gallery explores the representation of women in Europe from around 1500 to 1680, known as the Renaissance and Early Baroque period. Most of the works in this room have been made by men.

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Sofonisba Anguissola, 'Self-Portrait', 1560, oil on wood panel, Memphis Park Commission Purchase, 43.11

January 20 - February 19, 2023

2023 Mid-South Scholastic Art Awards

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“Kendall” by Sydney Wickens, age 18, grade 12, Arlington High School, Drawing & Illustration, Senior Division Best in Show

Frozen in Motion

In partnership with Creative Aging Memphis, the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art hosted a sculpture workshop for senior adults to exercise their creativity, explore new artmaking processes, and create their own three-dimensional artwork.

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Elvis by Judy Bilbrey

Día de los Muertos Altar Show

Our annual ofrendas exhibition celebrates the tradition of honoring deceased loved ones on Día de los Muertos with altars. Coinciding with our Día de los Muertos Community Day, this exhibition displays the work of local Memphis students who have constructed ofrendas for deceased people who they admire.

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Ode To Flora, Fauna, and Frida, By Brighton Elementary 5th grade students and Art Educator Kathryn Vaughn, 2019

Oct 7 - Jan 8

Drawing the Curtain: Maurice Sendak's Designs for Opera and Ballet

Calling all wild things, mischievous children, and lovable characters! Come to the Brooks and be transported from page to stage to faraway places...

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Maurice Sendak, 'Diorama of Moishe scrim and flower proscenium (Where the Wild Things Are),' 1979-1983, watercolor, pen and ink, and graphite pencil on laminated paperboard. © The Maurice Sendak Foundation. The Morgan Library & Museum, Bequest of Maurice Sendak, 2013.103:69, 70, 71.

September 30 - October 21

Brooks Outside: Evanescent

Come explore this immersive, outdoor light and sound experience inspired by the beauty, fragility, and transience of the natural world.

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June 24 – September 11, 2022

Another Dimension: Digital Art in Memphis

While digital art has existed since the 1960s, it has experienced increasingly mainstream interest in recent years. Due in part to our shift toward virtual environments during the Covid-19 pandemic, this rise in interest from artists to collectors has also been fueled by the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies and NFTs.

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Kenneth Wayne Alexander II, 'Tower of Babel', 2021. Digital video. Courtesy of the artist.

June 10 - January 9, 2023

Monika Grzymala

Grzymala’s work challenges the very definition of drawing and the nature of categorizing artworks - where does drawing end and sculpture begin? What are drawings made from, and how do we experience them?

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Monika Grzymala, Line, London, 2016

March 15 - June 5

Paradise Lost: Albrecht Dürer's Stolen Eden

In the 1970s, a woodcut by one of the world's greatest printmakers, the German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer, was stolen from the Brooks. This print, the Expulsion of Adam and Eve, was part of a complete set of thirty-six illustrations and a title page known as the Small Passion.

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Albrecht Dürer, German, 1471 - 1528 'The Expulsion From Paradise' (detail), from the Small Passion (1511), ca. 1510, Woodcut, Museum purchase with funds provided by the Estate of W. H. Foote

September 1, 2023 - January 7, 2024

Black American Portraits

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Ming Smith, Grace Jones, Studio 54 II, 1979, gelatin silver print, 12 × 18 in., Los Angeles County Museum of Art, promised gift of Janine Sherman Barrois and Lyndon J. Barrois, Sr. © Ming Smith, digital image courtesy of the artist