Frist Center for the Visual Arts Reviews

The Frist is a treasure!
Besides showcasing Nashville's former post office, they provide visitors with a wide variety of First Class Art.
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Perfect for couples. For kids they get bored really fast

Always enjoy our trips to the Frist. The exhibits and the kids art area are a great way to kill a couple of hours with the kids. We also like stopping in for the last hour of the day on our way to dinner/date night

Go on Thursday nights and watch who ever they have in the cafe! Beautiful place.

Great Atmosphere, and a good little spot upstairs for kids. Not a very large museum, but worth visiting. Thursday and Friday evenings are free if you show a student ID.

Nashville's home of high art. Children's room (Artquest) is superb, complete with staff to guide children and plenty of choices for young kids.

Great place to come with kids. They have rotating art exhibits that are unique and thought provoking. They also have a kids art play area where my daughter can easily spend an hour or two. In case you get hungry they also have a cafeteria which is moderately priced

The Eric Carle exhibit is fascinating. Loved to display spaces. Beautiful building. The open play spaces were a plus.

My first time at the Frist Art Museum (they rebranded a few months back) and I had very high expectations. As a museum frequenter I was looking for ease of access, variety of exhibits and some sort of idea that sets this museum apart from other museums. My boyfriend and I parked further away to save on parking costs and stopped by just to look at one exhibit. I receive free admission so I knew I'd have more time another day to see it all. The flow of the museum is quite strange given that the building is an old bank. The gallery isn't obvious. I would have liked more direction or signage finding the exhibit. Paris 1800 was the featured exhibit and the pieces were very nice, but the layout was boring. I loved the other exhibit on fabric 3D art which flowed very well. The gift shop was traditional although it was very upsetting that there wasn't any branded items, even a simple postcard to buy as a souvenir. I can get nerdy knickknacks on Amazon. Overall I'm sure they've made incredible improvements over the last few years, but I think they have a while to go before they hit their stride and make it to the likes of other arts museums of their size (financially). Loved the local youth art feature, but again the layout was awkward. I'll keep coming and keep exploring. Good luck :)

Highly recommend. Very interesting exhibits. Great variety of artwork.

Checked out a traveling exhibit, is a top notch museum, and reasonably priced.

Saw an ad on the building for an exhibit I really wanted to see. Went to the website and found the exhibit wasn't scheduled to be there until next month. Okay, I understand. Went to the museum anyway. Paid a lesser amount to get in, and when we asked why, we were told the museum was only open for 1 exhibit. The website did not indicate only 1 exhibit was open, and there was no signage at the entrance indicating this either. We were extremely disappointed.

The Frist Center always has new and interesting exhibits from around the world. Unlike many museums, they do not have collections of their own, but host traveling exhibits from other places.

Great experience. Love the setup of the museum and the type of art that is available for the public.

Great art place to visit right on Broadway downtown

Always a top notch visiting experience. Love the vibes, the selection of artwork, the staff.

Very fun and cool place! Lots of interesting paintings.

Best place in Nashville for original art. We are very lucky to have this place in Nashville. Parking is convenia entrance fees are reasonable. the exhibition are great.

The world at your fingertips. Thumb through the pages of history and take a wall through time.

The Roman exhibit was incredible and extensive. I very much felt like I got my money's worth.

Very nice museum. They have a lot of security guards, who are not very friendly. I smiled at three of them and they just stood there. Then to enter the one section two of them were standing together talking in the doorway and you literally had to squeeze past them, to the point where I thought the area was closed and I was sneaking in. Other than that, it s a very nice place. Parking was easy to find, and you get a discount when you buy your tickets. The gift shop is really nice and the workers there are super friendly and helpful. Would get a membership if we lived closer.

Interesting history of the United States especially Tennessee

One of the best art museums in Nashville. I really like when they have the car exhibits.

I visited today as I have since this oasis opened in Nashville. The exhibits are the most complete. I have not enjoyed the car show and this and that along the way but today you can visit and see what I am sure are the visual demonstrations of the mission statement. The curated show up stairs is brilliant. Thanks to the curatorial staff and the Frist. I can't overstate the importance to me personally. I come from Manchester.

Clean museum, lack of entertainment. Hard to spend more than an hour there.

The exhibit was good as usual. Going during the week is the best time. We ended up getting a mini tour from one of the security guards who had met several of the artist. Plan to spend 3 to 4 hours to actually see and ponder everything. Great indoor activity on a hot day.

I enjoyed my walk around the exhibits. This museum is very small, but I feel it's priced accordingly. Very well laid out and beautiful works of art. I like that they rotate exhibits every 90 days.

The Frist is lucky enough to host the first of it's kind Native Women Artists exhibit linking the Legacy, the Relationships and the Power of the Native women whose work both historical and contemporary comprise the major part of what is museums across the world. By presenting both historical and contemporary works across genres and from all of Turtle Island, this facinating exhibit is absolutely worth seeing. The audio tour is narrated by the artists themselves and the exhibit catalog includes the perspectives of these artists. A monumental and significant contribution to the world, it should not be missed.

Absolutely beautiful museum. The prices are fair and the staff is friendly.

The Frist Center for the Visual Arts is a magnificent experience. The re-purposed United States Post Office Building is the first wonder to encounter as the architecture is so unique (learned only two like this in the USA). Second, the essence of art, its interpretation, and provocation begins the moment the docent utters his/her first words. Regardless of the exhibition, the one-hour tour will revitalize those neural connections that have not fired in such an imaginative way. Visitors and Nashville natives who tour will be glad you did.

Love this museum. There is a friendly receptionist name Alina aka Sasha.

For my first visit here, I spent several hours here thoroughly enjoying the exhibits: Dorothea Lange, the Mellon Collection, and Claudio Parmiggiani. It was worth every moment! The staff who work here are friendly, helpful, and made the experience far easier than it could have been otherwise.

Amazing building, my favorite building in Nashville. All done in Georgia marble

Had a wonderful day at the Frist. Saw two wonderful exhibits, expanded my horizons. Bought a membership, I'll be back!

Worked there when I was little recently took my bestfriend there awesome place

I usually go about once a year. I have been to museums all over the world and the Frist is way up there. They have the best hands on (for children) experience of any museum I have been to. When I only give the Frist 4 Stars, I am comparing it to the Louvre and the Huntington Library. Top notch.

Beautiful exhibits, incredible staff. I always enjoy visiting the Frist center

Nice facility, more dependent on current exhibit than permanent collection.

Wow! what a great museum. Went here on a recommendation and was not disappointed! The Chaos and Awe exhibit was breathtaking. The photography show was nice but not my favourite. The civil rights show was also very interesting. A good size museum - you can expect to spend about 1 hour if you're quick. They even have a virtual reality piece that really plays with your mind. It is the artists version of a self portrait... and you certainly feel like you're inside the chaos of another person's mind! All in all a great museum. Especially since anybody staying at a Nashville hotel gets in for free (It is worth the fee though)

I had a great time viewing the Monsters and Myths exhibit. My only complaint was wishing their were more exhibits to see.

Beautiful collection, reasonably priced and parking is only $2 per hour for museum visitors. Second floor has a colorful space for kids to do artwork. The museum is not super big but we spent around 1.5 hours going through all the collections.

Second time visiting and enjoyed it thoroughly. Well designed and curated and one criticism is to have a clearly labeled entry to gallery.

My wife and I drove from a few states away to see the monsters and myths and Frida Kahlo Diego Rivera exhibits. It was well worth it. The Art Deco building is incredible

Excellent museum.A great art experience in the heart of downtown Nashville.Always interesting exibits.Fun and lots of activities

Overpriced for what it is! It is a fairly small museum and the photography exhibit was members only which we weren't told about until we had already paid admission. Was disappointed because i was excited about the photography and a membership is $125+ which doesn't make sense if you are just visiting the city!

A true gem in Nashville's crown! The art is amazing and always changing. The building is an Art Deco treasure. Our family purchases a membership every year, and it is money VERY well-spent!

Very intriguing galleries, well lit, and fun. Staff was kind and accomodating

Mexican modernism with Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera was such an amazing exhibition. I loved the curation of the whole exhibit including the contemporary work of Diana AlHadid - SO STRIKING - and the surrealism exhibit. I actually particularly enjoyed the contextualization and intentionality that i felt throughout the exhibit, including the detailed introductions and clear and chronological connections between pieces. Each artist was connected fluidly through concise and relevant story telling that worked only to enhance my experience of their work and understanding of the history surrounding their lives. I recommended to all of my friends to go. Not from Nashville, but will definitely be checking the museum schedule from now on because of how great my experience was. Only wish i had found their parking lot before i settled for the overpriced hourly lot i ended up in.

Always a treat. The food is affordable and delicious

Very interesting art display. Some well know artist, some unique art.

This is a beautiful museum, and the exhibits are always top notch. I love this place so much!

I visit 2 to 3 times per year. Never disappointed!

I visited here with my 3 year old son and we had a fantastic time! I took him to Artquest on the top floor which is an interactive art studio for both children and adults. We painted, drew pictures, designed using shapes, built towers and houses, watched videos, and drew on a double sided window. It is very clean and well maintained, the staff was so helpful and attentive to us, and the cafe had great food. All it took is a single visit to convince me to get a membership for our family!

Great space, cool exhibit there currently. No standing collection, so you're only going to see new things there.

Great exhibits and the architecture of the building is amazing #artDeco

Excellent Nick Cave show. I hadn't been to The Frist is almost 10 years. The space is beautiful and their curator did a wonderful job arranging the space. I can't wait to check out their Roman show that just opened.

Excellent collection including Frida Kalo. Our doscent was so knowledgeable. Really interesting!

Our whole family enjoys coming here. There is also a cafe where you can grab lunch or tea.

Very educational.. has a spot upstairs for kids to paint and learn more about art. Great experience

The line was a little long but other than that I found the artwork quite emotional, breathtaking,and complex with meanings. Definitely a place I recommend if you wanna check out some fine art and have a nice experience for your first time in a museum.

The Native American exhibit, "Hearts of Our People, Native Women Artists" was spectacular! It's open until Jan. 12th 2020, definitely check it out!