The Best Museum Shows of 2009

“Marcel Duchamp: Etant donnes,” at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

“Vermeer’s Masterpiece ‘The Milkmaid,’ ” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

“Georgia O’Keeffe: Abstraction,” at the Whitney Museum of American Art

“Bruce Nauman: Topological Gardens,” at the Venice Biennale

“Urs Fischer: Marguerite de Ponty,” at the New Museum of Contemporary Art

“Francis Bacon,” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

“Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective,” at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

“Manzoni: A Retrospective,” at the Gagosian Gallery

“Younger Than Jesus,” at the New Museum of Contemporary Art

“Heat Waves in a Swamp: The Paintings of Charles Burchfield” (curated by Robert Gober), at the Hammer Museum

“The Pictures Generation,” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

“Picasso: Mosqueteros,” at Gagosian Gallery