Reviews of Nasher Museum of Art (Museum)

Lisa Wiley

Smaller than expected but nice!

Jonathan Heaps

I've had the pleasure 4 years in a row if taking pre-arranged tours with high school students through the Nasher and everytime our experience has been excellent. Age appropriate activities and open ended discussions that let the students use their minds to engage with the art in display. I head back every year, without exception.

Quantum Entanglement

Way better than otitial expectations

Alex Falcone

An extremely beautiful museum with wonderful art exhibits. The building is bright, open and beautiful. Very interesting and unique art exhibits on display.

Tracey Kehoe

Two of the displays weren't open

Breem Dawn

I love art and had to drop in on our trip to Duke. I was not disappointed with the wonderful and unique art on display.

Jeff MacIver

Very cool. Great field trip location

N. E. Boyce

Beautiful setting and architecture. Expensive parking. Small collection.

Danny K

Artwork was really nice. Museum is small though and only has four sections for exhibits.

Emmanuel Tychon

Happy I was there for Carlo Dolci which was amazing. Overall the collections are small which is a plus : you're visit is quick and easy focuses on the best selection.

Hunter Levinsohn

Very good special exhibits, delicious food in the restaurant! Convenient meeting place for friends.

Isaias Martinez

They have a great Cafe. Free admission for military.

Fashionista The Harry Potter fan

Cute gift shop, nice African masks and art, but some paintings of nudity... I like the area where you can write about yourself and display it. Very nice.

Augustus Wendell

Great university museum

Jay J. D'Lugin, MD, MS

A beautiful space for displaying art and also for hosting private events. The exhibitions are always well curated and thought provoking. One of the best things to do in Durham.

Christopher Michael Luna

small museum but wonderful collection and rotating exhibits

Dia S

All I can say is this Museum is absolutely Gorgeous and it has so much Diversity ..Best Museum in the Raleigh Durham area....Hands down......

Tish Fab

One of my favorite places for patio dining during lunch. Always good service and great food!

Cindy Walker

This museum is easy to walk around in an afternoon. It's full of light and open space. There's a nice cafe there and a small gift shop. They have changing exhibits all the time. The one I saw was "People Get Ready" which was excellent!

Jim McGee

Lots of stairs leading to entrance

Meda Connor

Something different and delicious

Matthew Cloues

Great art museum on Duke' s campus. Wonderful place to have in Durham community.

Sam S

To little classical arts.

J R

Small collection, expect about an hour worth of time here. Collection is interesting but seems very small for the high cost parking and entry for non members.

Marek K

Cool place to visit.

Susan Rankin

Lovely, small museum on Duke's campus. A variety of exhibitions throughout the year. Big enough to bask in wonderful art, small enough to not feel bored or overwhelmed.

Sara Branch

It was nice but much smaller than I expected. Cost $7 and we weren't there very long. Typically you have to pay for parking but the machine wasn't working, but no signs or notifications of that so we tried to pay for like 20 min with multiple cards and cash before we gave up. Had brunch at the cafe which was nice. Probably won't be back.

Andrew Sink

A gorgeous museum, located right on the campus of Duke University. The exhibits are very well put-together, with a variety of contemporary and historical pieces on display. Make sure to check out the 'Courtside' exhibit currently on display, which shows a variety of in provided basketball hoop from around the world.

Serkan Zararsız

Small but very nice museum. Beautiful book shop inside.

M. David Wanner

Fantastic display of art and the like. We will be back for an extended visit. Very courteous and helpful associates.

Lari Koponen

Much smaller exhibition than one would expect from the size of the museum.

Tasha Nilsen

This museum is a must-see when you are on vacation in Durham.

Brian Newman

This is a nice museum but several exhibits closed or not available. Seems like a waste of $7 per adult with roughly half of the museum with inaccessible. Plus, there's the cost of parking. What was available for touring was nicely presented.

Dorothy Alexis

The food is AMAZING!! And the art exhibits change every so often so there is always something new. Great fun amd calm place for people of all ages.

I Don't

Worth a look every once in a while

claudia aleman

Bilingual storytimes every second Thursday of the month and free entry to museum! A good and fun place to visit.

Oliver Peckham

This is a small museum, but a beautiful collection. Lovely stop for a short visit, especially if you're a Duke student.

Adams Caleb Smith

I prefer to come here in the fall the weather is cooler

Ronna Klionsky

Always a treat.

Jonathon Klem

So nice

the_nicanor

Really awesome artwork of various degrees. Definitely something to return to. I hope they make more interactive sections in the future

MARÍA ALEJANDRA HIDALGO PAREDES

Really interesting. There's always something nice and new to see

Matt Friedlund

Decent art museum for a university collection - about what I expected from Duke

Kamal K

The place is hidden treasure for art lovers. To promote it, the museum should keep the entry free for school kids.

Paula McKinley

Museum is small. An easy one hour trip. Always love going to the touring exhibits. The "always viewable" collection has variety but I do often skip it. Check for "free" days.

Margaret O'Brien

I love this place. Great atmosphere, beautiful art, friendly and knowledgeable staff. They pull in art from so many talented artists, and from around the world!

Josephine McGill

Excellent art museum, here are a few pieces that are meaningful to me. So, if you still think the earth is only 3,000 years old

Igor Khokhlov

Very good museum, especially free Thursdays

Janna Sondermann

Small but interesting. Collections are presented by geographic origin.

Lisa Wood

Only one exhibit open the day we visited but still wonderful experience.

Jinny Baeckler

Always a creative, stimulating experience. A quick stop at the café will NOT disappoint. If you are new or old to the area, this is a must stop.

Manuela Back

Great to visit if you are around

Susan Montani

Great small museum to hit!! Nice changing exhibits!

Tripp Reade

I had a wonderful time here with my daughter just before she left for college. The space is open and inviting, and the exhibits well staged.

Dana Stone

I've been to a number of outstanding art exhibits in recent years: Matisse, Andy Warhol, Miro. The Miro exhibit was spectacular and an outstanding tribute to the great artist. The Nasher also has book discussions, art related films, and a wonderful cafe. It's my favorite museum in the Triangle.

Bonnie Hurd

Love museums...this was a great experience.

Artis Parker

Family day is free and great time for young kids

Mr/Mrs Vungtautwi

Toured through new and permanent exhibits. Always pleasant .

Jacob Clough

They had some decent art. However, they displayed their art so incredibly poorly that some of the best African art was stuffed in a corner of one of the wings; disappointing. They also had this really neat projector that projected the color I chose onto a medieval four person piece; that was really neat and was the only thing that saved me from utter despair while visiting this museum.

Paul Langan

Duke Art museum on west campus. Visited for a Southern art exhibit and presentation by three local chef/authors. Nasher is a well run museum with an interesting modern art permanent collection.

Lisa Kim

Great museum. Interesting show. Nice permanent collection.

Computuer Walker

Toilet wasn't working..terrible experience. Food was great.

Richard Elkinton

Very cool... smallish and intimate installations.

Abby Bugger

LOVE this collection. They have some great and significant pieces. And good entry discounts!

william manson

If you're looking to be moved and inspired by great works of Art, go elsewhere. Think of the incredible technical facility, sense of beauty, and spiritual gravity of, say, Rembrandt. The contemporary "art" on exhibit may seem clever--by juxtaposing or assembling incongruous elements--but it is spiritually empty: little more than comic stunts masquerading as art. The pretense of artistic statement makes a mockery of the aesthetic aspiration and sheer technical refinement of truly great works of art of the past.

Chad Rychlewski

Nice spot. Look for free tours certain days of the week.

Dorene Rukse

Loved it! All on one floor.

Maureen Wertheim

Excellent exhibits, staff, and facilities.

Nena Groh

Good museum.

Gregory Nemirofsky

Pathetic excuse of a museum! And it belongs to such a prestigious university! Two rooms of mediocre European paintings (with the exceptions of Bricher and Bruce Crane), and that's that. Even Sargent was mediocre. Mayan ceramics were quite decent, but if I had any idea how mediocre and tiny was the rest of the collection, I would not have wasted my time here and would have gone to Richmond & its excellent art museum.

Kathleen Gates

A manageable size, Good cafe

Pier Carlo Talenti

Who doesn't love free admission (on Thursdays) at this small and welcoming museum where in under 90 minutes you can get a taste of art ranging from ancient Greece to contemporary North Carolina? I particularly like that the museum showcases work from traditionally underrepresented artists.

Charles Webb

Great space!! Look for upcoming artist!!

Alex Desai

Brunch was delicious. Galleries were small but great.

Bradley Bethel

Excellent collection.

Amit Doshi

its a treat for any art lover! #GoDuke

Bernard Taylor

A great experience and a fantastic celebration! Enjoyable!

Dale William Neal

Very cool space and nice exhibits. Staff was excellent.

five two seven

Great exhibits. The museum's own collection is worth the visit. The features are bonuses. 3.5 - 4 stars

George Entenman

The Nasher is a small museum but very high quality, well worth the visit. It also has a wonderful restaurant.

maia v.

I went there with my boyfriend and this museum was incredibly disappointing. This museum is basically a white hate museum and it has a lot of "contemporary art." As a minority, I think the attitude was very racist against whites. All forms of hate should be discouraged regardless. The only good part of the exhibition with old relics ,other than that you'll be seeing lots of pictures that seem like it was taken with a cheap Kodak (I guess that's contemporary art).

Josh Suich

This is a very clean, attractive, and well curated museum. I withheld a single star for the size of the collection; I would have liked for there to have been another wing, but it certainly has enough to engage a viewer for a few hours if you take your time and read/inspect the pieces.

Rasheeda Jones

I really enjoyed this trip it was the 1st time I've ever gone to the nasher museum on Duke University's campus I took my students from intercession on a tour guided field trip it was very insightful

John Rudisill

The Medici Collection is very interesting.

Ariel Peters

Modern and contemporary

Molly Lenore

I love this museum and I hope to go back as soon as possible. The staff were very kind, its a beautiful place, and so many beautiful things to look at!

Freida Abelman

Very inspring work at this location. I just wish when I was there I was given a heads up that wedding/event set-ups were taking place. It totally ruins the scenery.

Lucas Tishler

Dont even sleep on this joint

Irene Lofstrom

A small, intimate art museum with a goal of displaying works of artists f color. Often offers free admission (Thursdays and Free Family Fun Days), does lots of community engagement, and has a wonderful staff of docents. The icing on the cake is the restaurant.

Well Witoonchart

Delicious food and fast, friendly service. Go with a Duke student who can pay for you with food points, and you've got a great evening ahead.

Juan Camilo Pryor Algarra

Contemporary University museum, interesting well curated exhibitions.

Jose Velasquez

So many great events happen here that are open to the public and also free! Not to mention it is pretty much across the street from Duke Gardens which is another great location to check out!

Paula Leon

This is a museum with a lot of variety.

Jason Chamberlain

My wife and I went here on a rainy day during a little getaway in Durham. The traveling exhibit was about Pop art and it was OK. We thought it was interesting and presented well. My only problem was that the pieces that I found most interesting were those that didn't have a card explaining them, but that's just me. The general collection is good, but it is pretty small. They have a good collection from the Americas. There are some interesting Roman pieces too. There is a really interesting photography exhibit from Hugh Mangum that we enjoyed. That's a recent addition to the general collection and it's worth seeing. Why only 3 stars? As regular plebians (read: not Duke alumni) we had to pay $7/person to get in for what was barely an hour of looking around. I actually read every card on the wall and spent some time looking more seriously at a few pieces and we still barely spent an hour there. We also had to pay to park in the lot. I don't feel like it was a great value for what we saw and experienced.

Lyudmyla Moisyeyenko

Interesting place. Only in free day you can see only one holl of exhibition

Grazina Bielousova

A small university museum with a permanent exhibition and temporary displays featuring classical and contemporary art. The cafe serves weekend brunches as well as weekday breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Thursdays are open to the public free of charge.

Miranda Welgos

Love it here! Come on a Thursday and get free entrance, stop by the museum cafe for lunch (surprisingly incredible food), and check out the amazing exhibits!

Diamond

Cute gift shop, clean and inviting, super clean bathrooms , organized

Ralph Griesenbeck

For a small museum it has a good permanent collection and good rotating exhibits. Thursday evenings are free.

Ken Ray

The permanent collection at The Nasher museum is pretty good. and most of the touring exhibits I've seen were also pretty nice. But one should understand that this is a small museum. It is free to go on Thursday, and that's when you get your money's worth.

Ericka Buitenhuis

Loved that this museum was mostly free!! It has many great pieces and what it lacks in depth it makes up in breadth! (You can expect to see a wide variety of periods and styles represented though not always a ton for each)

Dale Loberger

We didn't get to spend nearly enough time there to see everything there, but I was really surprised at how unfriendly the staff there was toward us.

Sean Green

Eh, mostly fine. Really only one exhibit worth going to which is the Classics. The other two areas are full of low effort, pretentious work with little talent and preachy messages.

Beverly El-Amin

Excellent place brunch. I was pleasantly surprised at the food choices and the quality of the food.

Jonathan Blackwell

The Nasher is a brilliant resource that gave life to Duke's vibrant art community when it opened in 2005. Make sure to visit the Cafe! As one of Duke University's first Visual Art majors, this institution makes me incredibly proud as an alumnus. As a resident of Durham the curatorial work and programming of the administrative staff are a beacon of social positivity in the community.

Dave Canoy

Interesting place!

Heather Burns

Located on the Duke Campus the Nasher Museum offers a variety of Art from Renaissance paintings to Modern Art. The museum is small so it takes under an hour to view. There is a café and a nice outdoor seating area. For Duke students and military the admission is free. They have various exhibits throughout the year.

Mani Bennett

Very Great Artwork

Dave Allison

A gem. This little art museum is very very nice. We attended the Dolci exhibit yesterday. Very nicely laid out - high quality. The cafe was excellent in quality and staff. This is almost a hidden gem in Durham, well worth spending an hour or two at!

Tent Amort

Good smaller art gallery. Good rotation of modern art.

Daniel Young

Some iconic pieces ( Andy Warhol's Soup Can) soft drums and some nice 13th Century strained glass, plus an awesome depression era photography exhibit. It's summer, how about something outdoors, or a small jazz combo making some music in the rotunda?

Mike Ma

Exhibitions frequently change. There's also a great restaurant inside, but only open on Thursday for dinner.

Max Porter

nice staff, good art, reasonably priced giftshop, good all around

Jennifer Griffin

They were updating a wing, so it wasn't full. However, it's worth seeing again.

Kristie Kim

Contemporary museum with a lot of academic art history. I was first introduced to the museum through an awards ceremony for a one-day mask making competition as an undergraduate student (first year) at North Carolina State University College of Design. It was a special event held around April 2011. It is now 2018 and I have moved on to modern design in California, but Duke University's art museum was one of my first inspirations to continue with design. My mask was made out of recycled paper and paint.

Daryl 29121

Small but fabulous museum. A must see.

R Mark E-W

Wow .... wonderful ... both permanent and visiting exhibits

Paris Lofton

Nice art museum

Jimin Seo

Always go here just to grab coffee and browse. It’s a small museum but the few permanent pieces they carry are pretty solid. Especially the medieval and Greek pieces. The path around the outside of the museum is nice too. It’s a nice spot to enjoy as a date or just a pleasant day out. #recommend

Anastasia Osti

It was our first visit there. I liked it a lot. It was crowded because of event, but we still liked it.

Brian McSteen

For the size of the museum, the Nasher is exceptional. There are three exhibit spaces in the museum that are very well curated. The size of the museum is perfect for an afternoon, especially to escape the heat of the day in the summer. Sometimes, I leave art museums feeling exhausted or overwhelmed by how much there is. The Nasher is manageable and interesting in how they seem to showcase pieces from all over, but also respect the local art scene as well (and in Durham it is vibrant!). There is also a cafe that serves a popular brunch! A very pleasant stop during a visit to Duke.

Angela Greene

Great time in workshop, collaboration between the gardens and museum. Thank you to our teachers they were great!

Peter Enchelmayer

Pleasant. Relaxing. Thoughtful.

Dave Kendall

Standard art museum with typical university collection and a really nice restaurant serving brunch on weekends. Exhibitions are well organized and creative. If you are in Durham and like art, this is a pleasant little diversion.

Carolyn Foland

Love this museum .

Cornelis J van Dijk

Great art, but it is uppety and not comparable to the Dutch Museums, Rembrandt beats it all

Sheldon Becker

Great facilities but infortunely on the top of a hill. Many stairs to get to the main building from the parking lot - they have a rear loading dock and a shuttle golf cart that i have never used

Chunfen Zhou

An atrium that is well lit by natural light connects this museum's several galleries. Permanent exhibition is small but nice, and the Mesoamerican collection is excellent. The museum also has a community focus and a few digitally enhanced exhibits. Unlike many other university art museums, it is not free to the public (except on Thursdays).

Will Chatham

Pretty awesome museum. Unfortunately the cafe had a ling wait, and was full of people who weren't even museum goers.

Gregory Monroe

Very interesting

Daniel Nocher

Went for lunch .

Chris Jeffords

Amazing food amazing experience...

Jim White

Every visit is a pleasure. (Parking...not so much.)

Tony Liu

Not a big museum but a really good collection of arts and rotating exhibits. A person can only soak in museum for so long and I often find myself mentally exhausted after couple hours in a large museum. So this is a good size; another ~25-30% increase in size would be perfect. Nonetgeless, I really like that they have great selection of contemporary art (seems to be their focus), and that is great. They have some more classic stuff, but why not keep focusing on contemporary and modern art, and be known for it?

Nika Filippov

Beautiful views indside and out and interesting art

Marc Lee

I have seen some truly amazing art at this great venue..it is also a amazing event venue located on the campus of Duke University....

Juli

Wonderful exhibits. Interesting space. Thursday nights are free :)

Jacob Narayan

Pretty small place. The art was still cool though. Only took about an hour to an hour and a half to see everything. Still worth the visit though. They have sections of art such as Africa, ancient Greek, etc.

Kimberly Leonhardt

Closed on Mondays.

Morgane Perez-Huet

Lovely museum. They have a variety of exhibits that keep you interested. It is always quiet so it's a nice place to relax and find inspiration.

周璟怡

Good place to relax, but only an hour to walk through the whole museum

Brian Rascoe

Portobello balsamic onion.

Millie G

Awesome building and artwork. A must do!

John Dinyari

Great art museum right in the middle of town

Dr. G Speaks

Wonderful exhibits and friendly staff.

Brendan Riddle

Great art from a variety of backgrounds and diciplines. Enjoy brunch at their cafe - nationally ranked for their brunch offerings. The salmon benedict is pretty spectacular.

Shantel Diggs

Great place to visit. If ur into abstract art.. The Cafe is a real treat!!

Thomas Morris

Enormously interesting exhibit of historical local photography.

Noel Haroon

Beautiful, quiet, educational experience.

Shahid Amin

A must see place for art lovers

A Washington

Boring & weird

Brian Thome

Second or third tier University art museum. Nothing to go out of your way for. Nice building. Very weak collection. 30 minutes.

Kelly Watson

Nice musuem but small. Free admission on Thursdays. Kuds always have fun here.

Brenda Matteson

It was such a great visit! Very wheelchair friendly!! Staff was very pleasant and the atmosphere was calming. Next time we go, we're going to pay to see all the art.

Samuel Stubenrouch

Had an excellent native american art exhibit

Alexander Valle

Not many exhibits but great architecture and great art

Shirley Thoms

The student monologues about refugee storie was great. If I could name the show for a title of a book it would be, "What an incredible group of young people and we'll articulated stories.". I hope the stories will become a podcast. 5 stara