A short overview of what's going on elsewhere in the country for those of you skipping town for the next week or so.

Chicago: The Art Institute is celebrating the impressionism Centennial with a retrospective on Claude Monet. Louis Leroy, a rather acerbic art critic of the 1870's, coined the term impressionism from one of Monet's paintings, and Monet's work has always been thought the most representative of the style. The Art Institute has gathered Monet paintings together from all over the country (including several from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts), and the exhibit is supposed to be very fine.

New York: The big play is being given to the Max Ernst exhibit at the Guggenheim. This week's New Yorker quoted the 83-year-old Ernst as saying; "My painting comes straight from my imagination, and that is distinct from the dreams." Those who like to label people call him a surrealist.

The Met is hosting the first exhibit of art from the Momoyama period of Japanese history to be seen outside Japan. And its costume division is showing examples of "Romantic and Glamorous Hollywood Design"--movie star clothes of the 30's. The show, my sources tell me, is a disappointment, but I don't believe them and intend to find out for myself.

Washington: To catch the big show in Washington, you should've left already. Actually, you have until Sunday, but I'm told the lines for this exhibit of Archaeological Finds from the People's Republic of China at the National Gallery are long (and Washington is very rainy this time of year.) But, then again, everyone who waits and gets in says it was all worth it.

Also check out the new Hirschhorn Museum of Modern Art, and the gardens of Dunbarton Oaks in Georgetown--the estate is owned by Harvard. It's also very pretty in the Springtime.