The Brooks has a new name and a new home. On Sunday, Dec. 6, 2026, the Memphis Art Museum opens its downtown building on the bluff over the Mississippi, and the museum has said admission will be free for every Shelby County resident, permanently. Here is what the museum itself has announced so far, and what it has not.
Free, for good, for Shelby County
The museum calls it free admission "in perpetuity" for Shelby County residents, and its June announcement names Bartlett, Germantown, Lakeland, Millington, Arlington and Collierville among the communities covered. The gift behind it comes from an anonymous donor the museum describes as a former AutoZoner.
"Free admission is a permanent invitation to our Shelby County neighbors: this museum is yours," said executive director Dr. Zoe Kahr.
The building
Herzog & de Meuron designed it, with archimania of Memphis as architect of record and OLIN on the landscape. The museum's numbers: 123,500 square feet, 50 percent more gallery space than before, and 600 percent more free public space. The galleries run in a single loop around a 10,000-square-foot courtyard named Hyde Square, and five of them have big windows onto the river or the courtyard. It is among the first major U.S. museums built with laminated timber.
Up top is a 50,000-square-foot rooftop garden the museum calls an "art park in the sky." The lobby opens onto Front Street, and the building shares a public plaza with the historic Cossitt Library along the bluff.
What's inside on day one
- Making Beauty: Hooks Brothers Studio, 1907 to 1984, the first museum survey of the Memphis studio, with 163 photographs, on view Dec. 6, 2026 to July 5, 2027.
- 15 thematic presentations from the collection across 30,000 square feet of galleries. The museum counts about 10,000 works spanning 5,000 years.
- New commissions: Yunhee Min on the street-facing windows and a woven curtain around the theater and mezzanine; Jordan Ann Craig's largest public mural yet and Eso Tolson's "A Memphis for You" on the roof; and Carlos Rosales-Silva's "Alma del rio," a mural on three walls inside the parking structure.
- Also on the roof: Sean Scully's "Stack Blues" and "The Smoke Coin" by LaKela Brown and Mario Moore.
Food
The museum picked John-Paul Gagliano, of the group behind Ecco, Libro and Tonica, to run a full-service restaurant on the Front Street corner, built on the Libro concept. The museum says it opens in January 2027, after the museum does.
Not announced yet
The museum's releases do not yet list opening hours, admission for visitors from outside Shelby County, a street address for the new building, or an opening-day schedule. The Overton Park building is closed, and the releases have not said what comes next for it. We will update this story when the museum publishes those details. Until then, check the museum's own site before you go.
En español
El Memphis Art Museum, antes el Brooks, abre su nuevo edificio frente al río el 6 de diciembre de 2026. La entrada será gratis para siempre para los residentes del condado de Shelby. Hay un jardín de arte en la azotea, la gran exposición de fotos del estudio Hooks Brothers y un mural de Carlos Rosales-Silva con título en español, Alma del rio. Horarios y precios para visitantes de fuera todavía no están publicados.
Sources
- Memphis Art Museum, "Memphis Art Museum to Open December 6, 2026 with Free Admission for All Shelby County Residents in Perpetuity," June 17, 2026: brooksmuseum.org
- Memphis Art Museum, curatorial vision and construction update, Jan. 21, 2026: brooksmuseum.org
- Memphis Art Museum, "Memphis Art Museum Unveils Inaugural Art Program, Major New Commissions Ahead of December 6 Opening," Sept. 22, 2026: brooksmuseum.org
- Memphis Art Museum, "Memphis Art Museum Selects John-Paul Gagliano to Operate its New Riverfront Restaurant," June 25, 2026: brooksmuseum.org
- Cover: BabaluShow, Antigravity A1 flight over the Brooks in Overton Park, Sept. 5, 2026