The National Gallery of Australia was the chosen launch point for a project with Google, announced today, that will see viewers with an internet connection anywhere around the world exploring artworks.

Part of a broader initiative known as the Art Project, the collections of the NGA, Art Gallery of NSW, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Museum, Rock Art Research Centre Griffith University, Auckland Art Gallery and Te Papa will all be exposed to a huge international audience as digitalised works are made increasingly available to viewers anywhere.

“We are proud to have led the project with Google and facilitated the involvement of other Australian institutions with the Art Project,” said NGA director Ron Radford, announcing that the key featured “gigapixel” image from gallery’s collection in the Google Art Project is Clifford Possum’s “Warlugulong” 1977.

Another useful feature will be the “Create an Artwork Collection” tool, which lets the user save specific views of artworks and build a personalised collection.

Art Project began with a small group of Googlers who were passionate about art started a side project to explore how technology could be used to help make art more accessible.

In February, 2011, at Tate Modern, London Google launched the Art Project, which can be explored at www.googleartproject.com. The project allows the viewer to experience super high resolution or gigapixel images that show brushwork details beyond what is visible to the naked eye.