Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis

The Brooks Museum of Art in Memphis was established in 1916 and holds the distinction of being the oldest and largest art museum in the state of Tennessee. This museum is a privately funded nonprofit organization located within Overton Park in the Midtown area of Memphis.

The museum complex comprises 29 galleries, art classrooms, a print study room housing over 4,500 works of art on paper, a research library with more than 5,000 volumes, and an auditorium. The museum's collection boasts over seven thousand works of art, encompassing paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, and various examples of decorative arts. Noteworthy among these collections are the Samuel H. Kress Collection, featuring Renaissance and Baroque paintings, the Hugo N. Dixon Collection with Impressionist paintings, the Levy Collection dedicated to American prints, the Goodman Book Collection, and the Goodheart Collection featuring Carl Gutherz's paintings, drawings, and archival materials.

Within the permanent collection, you'll find artworks from Italian Renaissance, Baroque, Impressionist, and 20th-century artists. The Kress Collection is just one of the many philanthropic contributions of this benefactor to American museums. The museum also houses an impressive assortment of English portraits, including works by Gainsborough, Reynolds, Lawrence, and Romney. Additionally, there are impressionist pieces by artists like Camille Pissarro, Renoir, as well as various American impressionists such as Winslow Homer, Thomas Hart Benton, Childe Hassam, and Robert Henri. The contemporary art collection includes works by Kenneth Noland, Robert Motherwell, Nancy Graves, and the well-known Memphis artist Carroll Cloar.

Moreover, the Brooks Museum takes care of a selection of 19th and 20th-century sculptures and decorative arts, including furniture and textiles.