Image: Memphis Brooks Museum of Art
The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art will open a new downtown location on December 5, 2026, moving from its longtime home in Overton Park to 55 Front Street. The institution said in a September 1 announcement that it will open the new site under the name Memphis Art Museum.
The move marks a transition for a museum that has occupied its Overton Park building for 110 years. In an announcement to supporters, the Brooks described the Poplar Avenue building as a place associated with school visits, family outings, art-making and landmark encounters with the collection. The museum’s current address is 1934 Poplar Avenue, Memphis.
The institution is using its final months in Overton Park to foreground local artistic history. Among the exhibitions currently on view is ‘Memphis College of Art, 1936–2020: An Enduring Legacy,’ which runs through September 2026. The exhibition presents 90 works by faculty members, administrators and graduates of the Memphis College of Art, spanning a range of media and organized in groupings of faculty and students.
Memphis College of Art graduated its final class in May 2020, ending an 84-year history of arts education in the city. The Brooks describes the college as a major touchstone for the regional arts community, with alumni going on to develop careers and teach across the United States and internationally. The school’s history is also closely connected to the Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, the institution that became the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. ‘Memphis College of Art, 1936–2020: An Enduring Legacy’ is guest curated by Marina Pacini, the museum’s chief curator from 2002 to 2019.
The exhibition is part of the 2026 Tennessee Triennial, a statewide initiative focused on contemporary artists and the diversity of Tennessee’s visual-arts scene. The Brooks is participating alongside the Frist Art Museum, the Knoxville Museum of Art and the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga. The museum’s current programme also includes David Uzochukwu’s ‘Bodies of Water,’ on view from June 10 through September 2026. The artist’s first solo museum exhibition, it brings together photographs of hybrid, human-animal figures in surreal landscapes and considers identity, migration and belonging.
September’s public programming is framed as a final period of activity in Overton Park. The museum is offering free gallery admission for locals throughout the month, with the free-admission period scheduled to continue through September 27. A final Super Saturday on September 26 will invite children ages five to 12 to make blue drawings for a visitor installation planned for the new downtown museum. The museum’s final day in Overton Park is also scheduled to include a junk-journaling event on September 27. The new Memphis Art Museum is scheduled to open at 55 Front Street on December 5, 2026.
