The splendor of fall exhibits

— -- Museum curators often open their best shows in the fall, when the cooling off from the summer swelter seems to spark energy. USA TODAY's Maria Puente takes a look at some of the season's most notable exhibits nationwide.

Latin American Art

Frida Kahlo Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Oct. 27-Jan. 20, 2008 She's Our Lady of Latino Art, eclipsing in some ways even her beloved husband, Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. This centennial exhibit, featuring 50 paintings from 1926 to 1954, when she died, travels to Philadelphia and San Francisco. 612-375-7600; walkerart.org

Martín Ramírez Milwaukee Art Museum Oct. 6-Jan. 13, 2008 Mexican-born, self-taught, catatonic schizophrenic, no English, no papers. Ramirez (d. 1963) wasn't the usual art-world star — but his art was extraordinary. Featured: 80 of his expressive and complex drawings. 414-224-3200; mam.org

Asian Art

Arts of Japan:The John C. Weber CollectionMuseum of Fine Arts, Boston Sept. 22-Jan. 13, 2008 This show, along with Drama and Desire: Japanese Paintings Fom the Floating World 1690-1850 (through Dec. 16), is part of the museum's celebration of Japan. Featured are 80 masterworks from early 12th through the mid-20th centuries. 617-267-9300; mfa.org

Treasures From Shanghai:5,000 Years of Chinese Art and CultureHouston Museum of Natural Science Through Jan. 6, 2008 Seventy-seven sets of objects from about 3000 B.C. to early 20th century trace evolution of Chinese technology and culture. 713-639-4629; hmns.org

American Art

Earl Cunningham's AmericaSmithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. Through Nov. 4 This retrospective, with 50 canvases, presents one of the premier folk artists of the 20th century as a modernist. 202-633-1000; americanart.si.edu

Photography

Edward Weston: Enduring VisionJ. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles Through Nov. 25 This show from the museum's own collections features 150 works spanning Weston's career from the 1900s to the 1940s. 310-440-7300; getty.edu

Ansel AdamsSept. 15- Jan. 27, 2008

Annie Leibovitz:A Photographer's Life, 1990-2005Oct. 13-Jan. 13, 2008 Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Two of the most famous photographers are showcased in two exhibits, featuring 125 and 200 photos, respectively. 202-639-1700; corcoran.org

Impressionists

Renoir LandscapesPhiladelphia Museum of Art Oct. 4-Jan. 6, 2008 The painter associated with portraits and nudes, Renoir was a pretty good landscape painter, too. This show of 70 works examines this aspect of his career. 215-763-8100; philamuseum.org

Impressionists by the SeaThe Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. Oct. 20-Jan. 13, 2008 The beaches of France must have been clogged with artists in the last half of the 19th century. This show features 60 seacoast paintings by the likes of Monet, Manet, Renoir and Courbet. 202-387-2151; phillipscollection.org

Inspiring ImpressionismHigh Museum of Art, Atlanta Oct. 16-Jan. 13, 2008 How did the Old Masters inspire the Impressionists? This show, featuring 88 works, juxtaposes Monet, Cézanne and Degas against Titian, Rubens and Fragonard to explore the influence of the Dutch and Spanish schools and the French Rococo style. 404-733-4444; high.org

The French

Marie-Antoinette and the Petit Trianon at VersaillesLegion of Honor, Fine Arts Museums, San Francisco Nov. 17-Feb. 17, 2008 This show, featuring 88 objects of furniture, painting and sculpture, examines the visual history of the star-crossed French queen's chateau at Versailles. 415-750-3600; famsf.org

Symbols of Power: Napoleon and the Art of the Empire Style, 1800-1815Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Oct. 21-Jan. 27, 2008 This huge show — 230 objects — examines one of the grandest, most opulent decorative styles, inspired by Greco-Roman antiquity and the glorification of the little Corsican general who championed it to help legitimize his reign. 617-267-9300; mfa.org

European Artists

The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of ArtMetropolitan Museum of Art, New York Sept. 18-Jan. 6, 2008 All 228 Dutch paintings in the Met's collection (widely considered the best outside Europe) will be on view for this show, which commemorates the 400th anniversary of Rembrandt's birth. Hals, Vermeer and other Dutch masters are highlighted, too. 212-535-7710; metmuseum.org

J.M.W. TurnerNational Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Oct. 1-Jan. 6, 2008 This show of 70 oils and 70 works on paper include some of the best-known and most-admired art of this 19th-century Romantic master. 202-737-4215; nga.gov

Miscellaneous

Real Pirates: The Untold Story of the Whydah From Slave Ship to Pirate Ship Cincinnati Museum Center Through Jan. 2, 2008 The title explains it all. On view are 200 objects recovered in 1984 from the wreck of the slaveship turned pirate ship, which sank off Cape Cod in April 1717. 513-287-7000; cincymuseum.org

Ancient Art

The Louvre and the Ancient WorldHigh Museum of Art, Atlanta Oct. 16-Sept. 7, 2008 This show, along with accompanying exhibit The Eye of Josephine, continues High's partnership with the French national museum. Featured are more than 70 masterpieces from the Louvre's Egyptian, Near Eastern and Greco-Roman collections. 404-733-4444; high.org