Museums put varied genres in the picture

— -- A new crop of museum exhibits to brighten a traveler's winter day. USA TODAY takes a look at a few:

Art stars

Lucian Freud: The Painter's Etchings Museum of Modern Art, New York Through March 10 He's best known as a portrait painter, one of the most important artists in Britain. This show, however, highlights nearly 100 etchings and explores the relationship to his works on canvas. Information: 212-708-9400 or moma.org.

Gustav Klimt: The Ronald S. Lauder and Serge Sabarsky Collections Neue Galerie, New York Through June 30 More than 120 drawings and eight paintings by the Viennese Expressionist will be on view together for the first time, filling the museum, including a reconstructed room from the artist's studio Information: 212-628-6200 or neuegalerie.org.

Old Masters

Painting the Italian Landscape: Views from the Uffizi Muscarelle Museum of Art, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Va. Through March 23 Covering five centuries of landscape painting, this exhibit features more than 40 paintings by the likes of Botticelli, Poussin and Canaletto from Florence's famed Uffizi gallery. Information: 757-221-2700 or www.wm.edu/muscarelle.

Michelangelo, Vasari and Their Contemporaries: Drawings From the Uffizi Morgan Library & Museum, New York Through April 20 This show features 80 Italian Renaissance drawings from the masters who defined Florentine draftsmanship. Information: 212-685-0008 or themorgan.org.

Modern masters

Degas to Diebenkorn: The Phillips CollectsPhillips Collection, Washington, D.C. Through May 25 Introducing 28 new artists to a renowned collection of modern art, including works by Ansel Adams, Elizabeth Murray and Ellsworth Kelly. The exhibit features 115 artworks by these and the likes of Degas, Klee, Calder and Motherwell. Information: 202-387-2151 or phillipscollection.org.

Gustave CourbetMetropolitan Museum of Art, New York Feb. 27-May 18 A pioneering figure in the history of modernism is the star of this retrospective featuring more than 130 oils and works on paper by a provocative 19th-century artist who was always at odds with the art world. Information: 212-535-7710 or metmuseum.org.

Americans

The American Evolution:A History Through ArtCorcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. March 1-July 27 A fresh look at the gallery's extensive American holdings, this show features more than 200 artworks in a wide range of media dating from the colonial era to the present day. Information: 202-639-1700 or corcoran.org.

Watercolors by Homer:The Color of LightArt Institute of Chicago, Chicago Through May 12 This show explores Homer's mastery of watercolor, highlighting 130 works that display how he unlocked the secrets of a more-difficult-than-it-looks medium. Information: 312-443-3600 or artic.edu.

Europeans

Consuming Passion: Fragonard's Allegories of LoveJ. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles Through May 4 An iconic painting, Fragonard's Fountain of Love will be the highlight of this exhibit of the artist's late works dedicated to the theme of love. Information: 310-440-7300 or getty.edu.

Pearls to Pyramids: British Visual Culture and the Levant, 1600-1830 The Lure of the East: British Orientalist Painting, 1830-1925 Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Conn. Through April 27 Those empire-building Brits certainly got around. These two shows focus on the history of cultural interchange between the British colonialists and the people and places of the Middle East. Information: 877-274-8278 or yale.edu/ycba.

Latin America

The Virgin, Saints and Angels: South American Paintings 1600-1825Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, Austin Through March 16 Drawn from the private Thoma Collection, this show of 55 paintings, spanning the years of Spanish colonial rule of what is now Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and parts of Chile, Argentina and Panama, shows how local artists transcended the religious preoccupations of Spanish missionaries to create their own art traditions. Information: 512-471-7324 or blantonmuseum.org.

Frida KahloPhiladelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia Through May 18 Frida fans, take note: This will be the only East Coast venue for a centennial show of more than 40 works by Our Lady of Latino art, some seen for the first time in the USA. Information: 215-763-8100 or philamuseum.org.

Photography

Foto: Modernity in Central Europe 1918-1945Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee Through May 4 This show explores a golden age of photographic experimentation in Germany, Austria, the former Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary, where the photograph was the ultimate modern art form. Information: 414-224-3200 or mam.org.

Danza de la Cabrita /The Goat's Dance: Photographs by Graciela Iturbide J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles Through April 18 One of the most important living artists in Mexico is the subject of this show, featuring more than 160 black-and-white photos made over three decades in Mexico, on the border and in the southern USA. Information: 310-440-7300 or getty.edu.

Close Encounters: Irving Penn Portraits of Artists and Writers Morgan Library & Museum, New York Through April 13 The Morgan's first show devoted to photography focuses on a newly acquired collection, featuring 67 portraits of influential artists, authors and performers of the 20th century as seen through the lens of the legendary Penn. Information: 212-685-0008 or themorgan.org.

Miscellaneous

Maps: Finding Our Place in the World Walters Art Museum, Baltimore March 16-June 8 An exhibit that attempts to explain what makes maps so hypnotic. Featured are more than 100 of the world's greatest, from ancient Rome and Babylonia to Leonardo da Vinci to America's first and Britain's oldest, maps on ceramic pots to maps on the Internet. Information: 410-547-9000 or thewalters.org.

Arms and Armor from Imperial Austria Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Feb. 24-June 1 From the height of the Renaissance through the mid-17th century, arms and armor played a crucial role in a part of Europe under threat from Turkey's Ottoman Empire. Featured are more than 200 objects that functioned as decorated artworks, warrior protection and lethal weaponry. Information: 888-262-0033 or www.clevelandart.org.