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From Degas to digital art, 10 eye-opening shows

Fra Angelico’s “The Marriage of the Virgin” will be on display at the Gardner Museum exhibition"Fra Angelico: Heaven on Earth." Scala/Ministero per i Beni e le Attività culturali

DRAWN TO GREATNESS: MASTER DRAWINGS FROM THE THAW COLLECTION The late art dealer Eugene V. Thaw’s imposing collection spans five centuries and boasts works by the likes of Rembrandt, Ingres, Degas, and Picasso that moved forward notions of what drawing can do. Feb. 3-April 22. Clark Art Institute, 225 South St., Williamstown. 413-458-2303, www.clarkart.edu

ART IN THE AGE OF THE INTERNET, 1989 TO TODAY The Internet has radically changed perceptions of self and community. Here more than 70 works drill down into what it means to be human in a digitally networked world. Feb. 7-May 20. Institute of Contemporary Art, 25 Harbor Shore Drive, 617-478-3100, www.icaboston.org

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  INVENTUR — ART IN GERMANY, 1943-55 Art history has neglected postwar German art because many German artists were killed or exiled in World War II. But the artists who remained grappled with the war and its aftermath and shaped German modernism. Feb. 9-June 3. Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy St., Cambridge. 617-495-9400, www.harvardartmuseums.org

THE SCULPTURE OF AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS The artist helped shape the narrative of American history with works such as the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial on Boston Common. This show spotlights large-scale pieces, including “Diana,” and “Abraham Lincoln: The Man.” Feb. 10-May 20. Currier Museum of Art, 150 Ash St., Manchester, N.H. 603-669-6144, www.currier.org

PLAYTIME Play is intrinsic to making and viewing art, it’s increasingly infiltrating the workplace, and it’s a go-to online. Here 40 works by 20 artists, including large-scale installations, explore the changing role of play in society. Feb. 10-May 6. Peabody Essex Museum, East India Square, Salem. 978-745-9500, www.pem.org

GOREY’S WORLDS Gothic illustrator Edward Gorey died in 2000. He left part of his art collection to the Wadsworth Atheneum, including works on paper by Édouard Manet, Eugène Atget, and Albert York. They are exhibited here alongside his own art. Feb. 10-May 6. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, 600 Main St., Hartford. 860-278-2670, www.thewadsworth.org

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FRA ANGELICO: HEAVEN ON EARTH This show celebrates the early Renaissance master’s genius for visual storytelling. Among the works are a reliquary from the Gardner’s collection, reunited with three from Florence, which together depict the Virgin Mary’s life. Feb. 22-May 20. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 25 Evans Way. 617-566-1401, www.gardnermuseum.org

KLIMT AND SCHIELE: DRAWN Sixty works on paper explore the confluences and differences between Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele. Both Austrian artists died in 1918, though Klimt was a generation older, and both took a forthright, sometimes raw, approach to the body. Feb. 25-May 28. Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave. 617-267-9300, www.mfa.org

T.C. CANNON: AT THE EDGE OF AMERICA The Native American painter, poet, and musician died in 1978, at 31. He left behind a colorful, politically charged body of work that addresses issues of identity and power. March 3-June 10. Peabody Essex Museum, East India Square. Salem. 978-745-9500, www.pem.org

THE MYSTERY OF WORCESTER’S LEONARDO The Worcester Art Museum’s “A Miracle of Saint Donatus” is reunited with the Louvre’s “Annunciation.” The companion panel paintings, once attributed to Lorenzo di Credi, are now thought to be the work of Leonardo da Vinci. March 10-June 3. Worcester Art Museum, 55 Salisbury St., Worcester. 508-799-4406, www.worcesterart.org


Cate McQuaid can be reached at catemcquaid@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @cmcq.