OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA.- The Oklahoma City Museum of Art is the newest institution partnering with the Google Cultural Institute through the Google Art Project. The Google Art Project allows online visitors to explore a portion of the Museum's permanent collection virtually and in high resolution.

"We are proud to be a partner in the Google Art Project. Our site gives the Museum the opportunity to showcase its diverse and dynamic collection and makes it accessible to everyone, everywhere, at any time," OKCMOA Registrar Maury Ford said.

OKCMOA's Google Art Project site includes several highlights of the permanent collection, including Richard Diebenkorn's "Albuquerque," Pierre-Auguste Renoir's "Buste de Femme," and Thomas Moran's "Falls at Toltec Gorge." The resolution of these images, combined with a custom built zoom viewer, gives art-lovers the opportunity to discover minute aspects of art works they may never have seen up close before.

"The Oklahoma City Museum of Art has enriched the lives of Oklahomans through the visual arts for many years. Thanks to this partnership with Google, these treasures we have enjoyed for decades are now more accessible to people all over the world, further strengthening our state's reputation as a center for arts and culture," Oklahoma Secretary of Commerce and Tourism Deby Snodgrass said.

Visitors to the Google Cultural Institute's Google Art Project can browse works by the artist's name, the artwork, the type of art, the museum, the country, collections and the time period. The OKCMOA's Google Art Project page can be found by searching the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Google+ and video hangouts are integrated on the site, allowing viewers to invite their friends to view and discuss their favorite works in a video chat or follow a guided tour from an expert to gain an appreciation of a particular topic or art collection.

The 'My Gallery' feature allows users to save specific views of any of artworks and build their own personalized gallery. Comments can be added to each painting and the whole gallery can then be shared with friends and family. It is an ideal tool for students or groups to work on collaborative projects or collections. In addition, a feature called 'Compare' allows two pieces of artwork to be examined side-by-side to look at how an artist's style evolved over time, connect trends across cultures or delve deeply into two parts of the same work.