Image: Left: Pendant, ca. 1610–20. White nephrite jade, rubies, emeralds, and gold; 2 x 3 in. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 02535(IS). © Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Center: M.C. Escher. Bond of Union, 1956. Lithograph; 10 × 13 3/8 in. M.C. Escher Images are copyright of the M.C. Escher Co. Right: Jean-Michel Basquiat. Blue Ribbon II, 1984. Acrylic, oil stick, and screenprint on canvas; 66 × 60 × 1 3/4 in. Private collection, L.2019.38.1. Artwork: © Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Licensed by Artestar, New York. Image courtesy of Princeton University Art Museum.
The Frist Art Museum in Nashville has announced a 2027 exhibition schedule spanning Mughal court culture, European design movements, modern and contemporary artists, children’s literature, and art from Tennessee-based practitioners. The program was announced on August 25, 2026, although individual exhibition dates and detailed venue information have not yet been released.
The year will begin with ‘The Great Mughals,’ an exhibition focused on “the art and culture of the Mughal court’s golden age,” according to the museum’s announcement. The schedule description does not specify the objects to be shown, the artists represented, the exhibition’s organizing institution, or its opening and closing dates.
Later in the year, the museum plans exhibitions devoted to art nouveau and art deco. Presented together in the announcement as separate subjects within the schedule, the two programs will address major design movements associated with the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. No further information has been provided about the scope, dates, or checklist of either exhibition.
The 2027 program also includes exhibitions centered on Jean-Michel Basquiat, Beauford Delaney, M.C. Escher, and Jerry Pinkney. The announcement names the artists but does not identify whether the presentations will be retrospectives, focused selections, loans, collection-based exhibitions, or projects organized around particular periods or themes in their work.
The inclusion of Basquiat, Delaney, Escher, and Pinkney places distinct artistic practices alongside the schedule’s historical and design-focused exhibitions. The program also maintains a regional dimension through an exhibition devoted to Tennessee-based artists. The museum has not yet released the names of those artists or described how the presentation will be structured.
The schedule was promoted in a Frist Art Museum email newsletter alongside notices about exhibitions currently on view and upcoming public programs, including a call for applications to the Teen Arts Action Group. Those items are separate from the 2027 exhibition announcement. Further details about the new exhibitions, including dates and participating artists, are expected to be provided through the museum’s full schedule.
