Corcoran (Wash., DC): Furniture Porn
Before Ikea, there was Marcel Breuer. And before Martha Stewart Living, there was Art de Vivre.

How influential were the years 1914-1939 to design? When your eyes wander across the clean lines of today's decor - and don't catch on Scarlett O'Hara's drapes or chair legs carved like gargoyles - you have the Modernist movement to thank.

But furniture's not all on display at the Corcoran's extraordinary Modernist exhibition. There's art (cubism, futurism), politics (Soviet collectives), war (Hitler), fascism (pre-WW2 Italy), architecture (Fallingwater, Le Corbusier), fashion (Claire McCardell), literature (George Bernard Shaw), cutlery, manufacturing, sport on film (Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia and clips of naked gymnasts, blocked by the silhouettes of male art students). Even the performance-art precursor to the Robyn Hitchcock Balloon Man video (or the Teletubbies - it's open to audience interpretation).

Get a good night's sleep. Eat a hearty breakfast. And take in a slice of history.