Vishnu: Hinduism’s Blue-Skinned Savior

Exclusive audio tour offered only by the Frist Center for the Visual Arts

Vishnu: Hinduism’s Blue-Skinned Savior, on view at the Frist Center from February 20 through May 29, 2011, was the first major museum exhibition to focus on Vishnu—one of Hinduism’s three major deities. More than 170 paintings, sculptures, and ritual objects made in India between the fourth and twentieth centuries provided a brief survey of Hindu art styles as well as an examination of Vishnu-worshipping traditions.

Known as Hinduism’s gentle god, Vishnu is easily recognized in paintings because of his blue skin, a reflection of his calm, cool demeanor and his associations with sea and sky. An interesting figure in his primary form, the complexity of Vishnu’s character becomes clear when he assumes new forms, known as avatars, in order to save the earth from various dangers. Vishnu’s ten avatars, including Rama and Krishna, reveal the multiplicity of ways that one can envision and interact with the divine.