Art Exhibits With Designs on Crowds

April is the cruelest month? Not for art devotees. Gearing up for the peak travel season, here are some notable openings:

* London--”Art Nouveau: 1890-1914” is billed as the largest, most comprehensive exhibit of that style since its heyday. The more than 400 objects include paintings, sculpture, furniture, graphics and jewelry by the likes of Aubrey Beardsley, Louis Comfort Tiffany and Rene Lalique. Opened last week; ends July 30. Victoria and Albert Museum. Telephone 011-44-20-7942-2000.

* Amsterdam--”The Glory of the Golden Age: Dutch Art of the 17th Century” offers up 300 masterpieces by Rembrandt (including “The Night Watch”), Vermeer ( “The Milkmaid”), Lutma and others. Opens Saturday; drawing and print display ends July 16; paintings, sculpture and decorative arts display ends Sept. 17. Rijksmuseum. Advance tickets ($14) through Keith Prowse New York, tel. (800) 669-8687.

* Houston--”Kremlin Gold: 1,000 Years of Russian Gems and Jewels” continues the outpouring of treasures from cash-strapped Russia. These, from the Moscow Kremlin State Historical-Cultural Museum Preserve, include the 17th century sable-trimmed crown of Czar Ivan Alexeivich covered with hundreds of diamonds, a gold sarcophagus cover made for Ivan the Terrible’s son Dmitry and Faberge jeweled eggs. Opens Saturday, ends Sept. 4. Houston Museum of Natural Science. Tel. (713) 639-4629.

* Raleigh, N.C.--”Rodin” presents more than 130 works by the French master, from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collection, the Musee Rodin in Paris and elsewhere. It includes bronze, marble, terra-cotta and plaster renditions of such signature pieces as “The Kiss,” “The Thinker” and “The Age of Bronze.” Opens April 16, ends Aug. 13. North Carolina Museum of Art. Tel. (919) 839-6262.