The Oklahoma City Art Museum is an exciting and enriching place where visitors can expand their imagination, interact with art and artists, and have fun in a creative learning environment. Through exhibition and collection, the Museum educates about art and through art, providing abundant opportunities for people of all backgrounds to explore the artistic values and traditions of the world’s cultures.

Each season the Museum has a diverse and stimulating schedule of exhibitions representing at least three cultures and three centuries of fine art. In addition to major special exhibits, the Museum showcases the finest works in the permanent collection. Visitors can expect a balance of artistic media including painting, sculpture, prints, decorative arts, photography and textiles.

With a focus on 20th century American art, the Oklahoma City Art Museum’s permanent collection of 3,000 works of art encompasses major

periods and styles from medieval to contemporary. The Washington Gallery of Modern Art Collection is particularly rich with works by Ellsworth Kelly, Helen Frankenthaler, Grace Hartigan, Richard Diebenkorn, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Indiana, and Roy Lichtenstein. The Beaux Arts Collection features important American artists such as Childe Hassam, Robert Henri and John Sloan. Of historical interest is the WPA Collection commissioned under the “New Deal’s” Works Progress Administration. The Museum’s diverse holdings include Camille Corot, Paul Gauguin, Pablo Picasso, William Merritt Chase, Rene Magritte, Andy Warhol and Alexander Calder. The Oklahoma City Art Museum is the repository of many significant private collections in Oklahoma.

In 1968, when the Washington Gallery of Modern Art merged with the Corcoran Gallery of Art, an unprecedented opportunity presented itself. The Board of Trustees of the Oklahoma Art Center purchased the entire Washington Gallery of Modern Art collection. This acquisition considerably enhanced the nucleus of American art already in the permanent collection and has proven to be an important asset as the 20th century closes. Although known as the “Art Center’s Folly” at the time, values of many of the individual works now far surpass the collective purchase price.

While the collection represents a diversity of styles, many of the paintings, sculpture, drawings, and prints are characteristic of Abstract Art, a rebellion against traditional painterly technique and representation. Instead of imitating recognizable objects, many of the artists in the collection focused on color, line, shape and texture to express movement and emotion. In this era, artists were experimenting with non-traditional materials and methods. Among the collection’s 153 works are paintings on unprimed canvas, a large mixed-media work with found materials such as burned books, asphalt, and pipe glued to the canvas, and paintings with sand mixed in the paint. Spontaneous freedom of expression was more important than creating a durable artwork.

Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 10 AM - 5 PM, Thursdays 10 AM - 9 PM, Sundays 1 PM - 5 PM, Closed Mondays

Admission: $3.50 for adults, $2.50 for students and seniors, free to children under 12 and to members

Location: The Oklahoma City Art Museum is located East of the Space Needle at 3113 Pershing Boulevard in Oklahoma City.
For tickets/information, call: 405-946-4477
Hours to call: Tuesday - Saturday 10 AM - 5 PM, Thursdays 10 AM - 9 PM, Sundays 1 PM - 5 PM, Closed Mondays
Tickets may be purchased by phone with a credit card
Visit their Web site at: http://www.okcartmuseum.com