Jump to: Reviews | Guide to Art-Museum Banter

Unlike opera or ballet, an art museum lets you control your cultural experience. Rather than passively sitting and letting the culture wash over you, you assume command, visiting the art you want to see and skipping straight past the abstruse mud-and-spittle-daub outsider art (unless that’s your thing). This Groupon gives you a cultural experience you can't possibly sleep through at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts: $4 gets you adult admission to all the visual arts exhibits your retina can take (an $8.50 value). Visitors age 18 and under get in free, so you don't have to pay a babysitter or neglect your babysitting duties to take in about 24,000 square feet of gallery space and earn your art-savvy street cred.

Bring your mother-in-law, significant other, or anyone to whom you have nothing left to say. Let the thought-provoking sculptures spark an engaging conversation, or enjoy a silence that's finally not awkward for a while. Located in the former main post office of Nashville, the Frist is an architectural feast of classicism and Art Deco style. The marble and granite facade and intricate interior grillwork is as visually stunning as the artwork the building houses, and is twice as visually stunning as your rumpus room. Check out the latest exhibitions, such as Georgia O'Keeffe and Her Times, a collection of some of the most influential American artists of the early 20th century, and Thomas Hart Benton in Story and Song, a showcase of the artist’s illustrations, which he created to accompany some of Mark Twains classic novels. Get swept up by the romance and strangeness of another land in Twilight Visions: Surrealism, Photography, and Paris, and puzzle over the jig-sawed photograph sculptures of New York–based artist Oliver Herring.

Enjoy live music in the lobby on Thursday and Friday evenings, and take advantage of the Frist's other events and lectures, such as the architecture tour or surrealist film series to stretch the value of your Groupon. Spend time with your niece or little bro at the Martin ArtQuest Gallery, where kids are encouraged to learn and create their own art at one of several fully equipped art stations within the colorful gallery space.

Reviews

Yelpers give the Frist Center for the Visual Arts four stars, and Citysearchers give it 4.5 stars:

• Finally -- a visual arts hall worthy of a city of Nashville's size. They designers did a great job keeping the old deco feel from the old post office while incorporating [sic] new elements into the Center. The collections thus far have been interesting and look forward to even more as the Center becomes established. – PatrickRains, Citysearch
• The greatest part of the Frist Center is the hands on art projects. This is a wonderful place to bring your kids and let them experience art in its truest form. – jrminor1, Citysearch
• An incredible place to [sic] friends from out of town, lots to see, but plan on standing on your feet and walking a lot...A definite place to go on a cold or rainy day when outdoor attractions are out. – keith73, Citysearch