Everything you ever wanted to know about Lake Tahoe

One of our favorite pieces in the Nevada Museum of Art’s big Tahoe show: this 2014 photograph by Michael Light.

Hard as it may be to believe, no museum has yet tried to mount a comprehensive exhibition about Lake Tahoe. The Nevada Museum of Art is about to change that.

Opening August 22, Tahoe: A Visual History documents how we see, and have seen, our Western jewel over the last 200 years. A mere handful of the nearly 500 items on display: a Washoe fish trap, worthy of any design museum; Albert Bierstadt’s luminous oil of twilight on the lake; Michael Light’s aerial view of State 89 snaking toward Mt. Tallac (above); and a sweetly kitschy souvenir teacup. Get to Reno before the show closes in January—it’s one more excuse for a trip to the mountains. $10; nevadaart.org.