For college students, February is a memorable month for many reasons. First of all, Valentine’s day finally makes its appearance (or rears its ugly head, as the case may be), which can either lead to a romantic night out or to a group of friends eating Ben & Jerry’s ice cream cake and watching The Notebook and Love Actually in a townhouse living room. It also marks the beginning of the countdown to spring break and often to the first sights of spring itself. This year, February marks the opening of a few highly-anticipated exhibitions at several of D.C.’s famous art galleries. So whether you spend the first half of the month anxiously awaiting flowers and chocolate on Feb. 14, or espousing your belief that Valentine’s Day is just a consumer-driven holiday invented by greeting card companies, here are some of the best and brightest art shows to distract you for a few hours.

Georgia O’Keeffe is one of the most well-known female artists in America, particularly for her floral pieces and depictions of the landscape of the Southwest. She was also an accomplished abstract artist, however, and this month the Phillips Collection is opening an exhibit to spotlight this part of her repertoire. Over 90 pieces are included in the collection, ranging from oil paintings to watercolors to sketches. Many of her most famous works, including an aerial vision of a cloudy sky and the passionate and engrossing “Red, Yellow and Black Streak” are included in the exhibit. As a bonus, there will also be a collection of photographs by Alfred Stieglitz, a famous portrait artist and O’Keeffe’s husband.

You may not know Josef Albers’ name, but you have almost certainly seen his art and been influenced by his lifelong work toward enhancing art education in the United States and Europe. Albers was a German-born artist who immigrated to America when the Nazis closed down the Bauhaus in 1933. Over the next several years he would perfect his style as an artist, focusing on vibrant colors and seemingly simple, yet incredibly affecting, geometric designs. Starting on Feb. 11, the Hirshhorn Museum will be displaying 70 of Albers’ pieces, spanning his over 50-year artistic career. The exhibit shows his evolution from early black-and-white impressionistic pieces to various takes on brightly colored nested squares in his later years, which would become his trademark.

Just before Women’s History Month in March, the National Museum of Women in the Arts will open its exhibit, “A Dream…but not Yours: Contemporary Art from Turkey,” a multimedia installation of works by 11 female artists from the country. Combining photography, painting, video, textiles and 3-D pieces, the exhibit seeks to portray the differences between the perceived and actual roles of women in Turkish society. This is a unique exhibit that combines social history and international relations in a way not often seen around the District or in art museums.

The Vancouver Olympics start in less than a week, and to coincide with the opening of the Games, Gesche Würfel will be exhibiting his work at the Civilian Art Projects’ “Go for the Gold! – The Disappearing Lea Valley.” The artist is taking a look at the various ways that the London landscape could be changed with the construction of the Olympic arenas over the next two years in advance of that city’s 2012 Summer Olympics hosting gig. The exhibit consists of stark, often bleak, photographs of various small patches of greenery and dilapidated buildings in and around London that may be replaced by structures used for the Games. The show forces the viewer to confront the complicated legacy of the Olympic Games on the various cities in which they are held, and with only a month-long run, is not one to miss.

The words “high school” conjure up many a memory for anyone currently in the midst of the gossip-filled halls or those of us who have already managed to escape them, but this month the Flashpoint Gallery will pose an interesting question on the subject in their new exhibit: what happens to high schools during summer vacation? Jennifer Dorsey’s photography exhibit, “Alma Mater,” tells the story of the shockingly quiet and still state of those buildings and halls during the summer months. Empty cafeteria tables and food trays, blank bulletin boards and quiet halls populate the photos in this installation — one that is sure to bring back reminiscent memories of both the years you spent inside those buildings and the summers you spent avoiding them.

For those of us who make the trek back and forth from the West Coast to Georgetown, or those of you from the East Coast who have somehow managed to miss out on the glory of the Western frontier, the American Art Museum is offering you a chance to take a tour through the dynamic landscapes of the American West as they existed in the middle of the 19th century. Timothy O’Sullivan, a surveyor employed by the federal government during the 1860s and ’70s to photograph and catalogue the landscape of the west, created hundreds of photographs and stereo cards depicting the breathtaking scenery and natural wonders of the regions, many of which were still sparsely populated and undisturbed by modernity. The exhibit opens on Feb. 12, and is a must for any Hoya whose home is west of the Mississippi River.

Although February may be marred by the reappearance of midterms or grief over a Valentine’s Day spent single, there is no reason to let all 28 days of this month go to waste without getting off the Hilltop for a few hours and enjoying some of the incredible (and free!) art that we have at our fingertips all around the District.