From Visigoths to vivid shots
'Modigliani and His Times'
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza
MADRID
Through May 18
This important retrospective looks at the artist's own work (sculptures and drawings, as well as paintings) alongside the work of those painters and sculptors who influenced and were influenced by him, such as Paul Cézanne, Constantin Brancusi, André Derain, and Kees van Dongen. The exhibition includes some 140 works, mostly by Modigliani, but also by these artists and numerous others.
Paseo del Prado 8, 011-34-91-369-0151, museothyssen.org/thyssen_ing.
'In the Forest of Fontainebleau: Painters and Photographers from Corot to Monet'
National Gallery of Art
WASHINGTON
March 2-June 8
The forest of Fontainebleau, some 30 miles from Paris, became a mecca for French artists during the 19th century. The combination of the area's natural beauty and its proximity to the capital attracted numerous painters and photographers, such as Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot; the leading founders of the Barbizon School of painting, Jean-François Francois Millet and Théodore Rousseau; Gustave Le Gray and Claude Monet, whose landscapes in Fontainebleau helped inspire Impressionism. This exhibition includes some 120 paintings, photographs, and pastels.
4th Street and Constitution Avenue NW, 202-737-4215, nga.gov.
'Rome and the Barbarians: The Birth of a New World'
Palazzo Grassi
VENICE
Through July 20
Rome wasn't built in a day - and it took longer than a millennium to finish it. This mammoth exhibition looks at how the centuries-long interaction between the Roman Empire and waves of barbarian invaders (Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Vandals, Franks) gave rise to what we now know as the Middle Ages. Some 1,700 items, mostly barbarian but also some Roman, are on display. Ranging in date from the first century BC to the middle of the 10th century, they include statuary, illuminated manuscripts, coins, and devotional objects.
San Samuele, 011-39-041-523-1680, palaz zograssi.it.
'Friedlander'
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Through May 18
Lee Friedlander is one of the great living masters of photography. As the nearly 400 images in this comprehensive retrospective make plain, his vision is comical and casual, funky and unflinching. Friedlander's black-and-white photographs - of city streets, cars, signage, odd corners, unexpected people - transform the American mundane into something vivid, arresting, and memorable.
151 Third St., 415-357-4000, sfmoma.org.
Events are sometimes canceled, rescheduled, or sold out; call or check online to confirm. Mark Feeney can be reached at mfeeney@globe.com. 