NOTA BENE
Perhaps not surprisingly for someone who started out studying sculpture, shoe designer Roger Vivier (1907-1998) is often credited with inventing the modern stiletto heel, or talon aiguille, at Dior in the early 1950s. It seems somehow incongruous that he also designed the sandals worn by Elizabeth II for her coronation; made of garnet-studded gold kid leather, they were fitted with a hidden platform. His many other contributions to foot fashion include the thigh-high boots favored by Brigitte Bardot and the chrome-buckled, square-toed Yves Saint Laurent pumps sported by Catherine Deneuve in Luis Buñuel’s 1967 film Belle de Jour, a much-copied style now emblematic of the Vivier name. This spring, Toronto’s Bata Shoe Museum presents ROGER VIVIER: PROCESS TO PERFECTION, the first North American exhibition of its kind, which will feature 50 items at any one time, with new pieces rotated in throughout the year. May 9 through April 7, 2013; batashoemuseum.ca.

Seattle
GAUGUIN AND POLYNESIA
Gauguin and Polynesia: An Elusive Paradise delves into the artist’s engagement with the arts and culture of the South Sea Islands—first Tahiti and later the Marquesas, his final resting place. Some 60 examples of Polynesian art join an equal number of paintings, sculptures and works on paper by Gauguin, offering insight into the master’s creative development as well as a more general perspective on the exchanges between Pacific Island and European cultures in the 19th century. Through April 29 at the Seattle Art Museum; seattleartmuseum.org.

Springfield, MA, and Cincinnati
OLD MASTERS TO MONET
Old Masters to Monet: Three Centuries of French Painting from the Wadsworth Atheneum presents 50 masterworks from the country’s oldest public art museum, founded in 1842. Spanning the 17th to the early 20th centuries, with all major genres represented, the show surveys the evolution not only of French painting but also of French society as a whole under the effects of the Revolution and industrialization. Through April 29 at the D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts, springfieldmuseums.org, and May 18 through Sept. 16 at the Taft Museum of Art, taftmuseum.org.

Washington, DC, and Indianapolis
SNAPSHOT
Snapshot: Painters and Photography, Bonnard to Vuillard reveals the impact of the Kodak handheld camera on the work of Post-Impressionist artists who embraced the new invention, first sold in 1888. Aiming their lenses at city streets, landscapes, family members and sometimes each other, these artists snapped a total of some 10,000 pictures, about 200 of which are on view. Some 70 paintings and prints show how the artists incorporated the new medium into their craft, be it by reinterpreting the snapshot in paint or by using photographs to explore foreshortening, cropping and other effects. Through May 6 at The Phillips Collection, phillipscollection.org, and June 8 through Sept. 2 at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, imamuseum.org.

New York
RENOIR
Through nine large-scale vertical canvases dating from the mid-1870s to the mid-1880s, Renoir, Impressionism, and Full-Length Painting examines the artist’s use of a format favored by the Salon and largely eschewed by his fellow Impressionists. Nearly life-size, the works showcase the artist’s virtuosity at rendering not only figures but also the sumptuous fashions of Belle Epoque Paris. Through May 13 at The Frick Collection; frick.org.

Nashville
MATHILDE ROUSSEL
The site-specific show Mathilde Roussel: Anatomia Botanica reflects the Paris-based artist’s fascination with the life cycle and the perpetual change experienced by all organisms on Earth. The works displayed incorporate a variety of organic and inorganic materials; for example, human figures made from live wheat grass, recycled metal and fabric offer a commentary on the impact—both on our bodies and on the larger world—of the food we eat. Through May 13 at Cheekwood Botanical Garden & Museum of Art; cheekwood.org.

New York
REMBRANDT AND DEGAS
Degas spent much time during his formative years copying the Old Masters, both at the Louvre and in Italy. Despite his later association with Impressionism, he remained devoted to those early exemplars throughout his life. Rembrandt and Degas: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man explores the 17th-century Dutch master’s influence on his 19th-century French admirer by uniting some 20 of their early self-portraits, both painted and graphic. Through May 20 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art; metmuseum.org.

Portland, ME
DEGAS
Built around a collection of privately owned works on paper never before publicly displayed together, Edgar Degas: The Private Impressionist presents intimate images of the artist’s family and friends along with such signature behind-the-scenes subjects as ballet dancers off stage and women in their boudoirs. Also included is a selection of pieces by Cézanne, Cassatt and other contemporaries. Through May 28 at the Portland Museum of Art; portlandmuseum.org.

New York
THE STEINS COLLECT
By buying ground-breaking works of art, befriending their creators and welcoming people into their homes to see and discuss them, Gertrude Stein and others in her family advanced Modernism both in their adopted city of Paris and abroad. Drawn from private and public holdings around the globe, The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde unites some 200 masterworks once owned by these influential art patrons, as well as family photographs, correspondence and other archival materials. Through June 3 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art; metmuseum.org.

Chicago
CLAUDE CAHUN
A forerunner of the contemporary artist Cindy Sherman, Surrealist Claude Cahun (born Lucy Schwob in 1894) delved into issues of gender and identity by photographing herself as both male and female personae. Little known before being rediscovered in the 1980s, her work is now the subject of the retrospective Entre Nous: The Art of Claude Cahun, which brings together some 80 images and writings by the artist and her long-time partner, Suzanne Malherbe (a.k.a. Marcel Moore). Through June 3 at the Art Institute of Chicago; artic.edu.

Fort Worth
THE AGE OF IMPRESSIONISM
The Age of Impressionism: Great French Paintings from the Clark showcases more than 70 19th-century masterworks from the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. These include an array of 21 Renoirs reflecting the artist’s creative evolution from the 1870s to the 1890s, as well as selections by his fellow Impressionists Monet, Degas, Sisley and Pissarro. Rounding out the show are pieces by Bouguereau, Corot, Gérôme and other well-known artists who embraced different aesthetics. Through June 17 at the Kimbell Art Museum; kimbellart.org.

A black velvet haute-couture evening dress from Yves Saint Laurent’s 1983 Fall-Winter collection, appearing in Denver. Photo: ©A. Guirkinger/Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent, Paris

Denver
YVES SAINT LAURENT
Yves Saint Laurent pioneered modern women’s wear with such designs as le smoking, a male garment transformed into a symbol of female empowerment. No fewer than 30 iterations of this signature piece appear in Yves Saint Laurent: The Retrospective, a multimedia exhibition spanning the late designer’s 40-year career, from his early creations for Dior in the 1950s to his final runway collection in 2002. Two hundred couture outfits illustrate themes ranging from his use of color and fondness for the exotic to his take on Mondrian and other artists. Through July 8 at the Denver Art Museum; denverartmuseum.org.

Washington, DC
WOMEN ARTISTS FROM THE LOUVRE
Beyond being suspected of moral laxity, female artists in 18th-century France faced numerous practical challenges that forced them to exercise their talents outside mainstream avenues. They could not attend life drawing classes, and their membership in the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture was capped at four in 1783. Through 77 works, Royalists to Romantics: Women Artists from the Louvre, Versailles, and Other French National Collections explores how the Revolution, rise and fall of Napoleon and restoration of the monarchy each ushered in a new landscape to negotiate. While viewers might recognize some of the 35 names represented—notably Marie Antoinette’s favorites, Elisabeth Vigée-LeBrun and Anne Vallayer-Coster—the majority will likely be discoveries. Through July 29 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts; nmwa.org.

San Francisco
JEAN PAUL GAULTIER
Whether showcasing men’s skirts or sending plus-size models down the runway, Jean Paul Gaultier embraces an irreverent and fun-loving aesthetic that celebrates individuality. The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk marks the 35th anniversary of his first prêt-à-porter collection with a retrospective of his work. Emphasizing haute couture, the show presents 120 outfits, most never before exhibited. Complementary materials such as sketches, film clips and stage costumes highlight the designer’s fondness for collaborating with fellow artists as varied as Pedro Almodóvar, Maurice Béjart and of course Madonna. Through Aug. 19 at the de Young Museum; deyoung.famsf.org.

Toronto
PICASSO’S PICASSOS
Closed for renovations until 2013, France’s Musée National Picasso in Paris is home to the world’s largest trove of the artist’s work; pieces from his personal collection form the core of its holdings. North American audiences now have an unprecedented opportunity to view some 150 of the museum’s most prized paintings, sculptures and works on paper. Covering eight decades, Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris surveys the prolific and ever-innovative master’s career, with prime examples from every major period—Blue, Rose, Cubist and Surrealist, among others. May 1 through Aug. 26 at the Art Gallery of Ontario; ago.net.

Signac’s “Place des Lices” (1893) is one of the luminous works included in the Carnegie Museum’s “Impressionism in a New Light.” Photo: ©Richard Stoner 2006/Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh
IMPRESSIONISM IN A NEW LIGHT
Comprising 150 works from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Impressionism in a New Light: From Monet to Stieglitz explores the influences behind the Impressionist movement, particularly photography. The new medium’s ability to reproduce reality absolved painters from attempting to do so while driving them to lend their creations an equally instantaneous quality. Pictorialists, meanwhile, sought to demonstrate that photography was more than mere documentation, manipulating the medium to achieve painterly effects. The show illustrates the fruits of this artistic interplay by juxtaposing works by Degas, Renoir and other Impressionists with those of such Pictorialists as Käsebier and Steichen. May 12 through Aug. 26 at the Carnegie Museum of Art; cmoa.org.

New York
VUILLARD AND HIS MUSES
Through some 50 works in assorted media, Edouard Vuillard: A Painter and His Muses, 1890-1940 examines the many ways in which the master drew inspiration from his friends and patrons. The show spans his career, covering his artistic beginnings as a member of the avant-garde Nabi movement and the domestic interior scenes for which he is best known, his graphic art for the periodical La Revue blanche, his decorative commissions and his lesser-known later portraits. May 4 through Sept. 23 at The Jewish Museum; thejewishmuseum.org.