Roman
Opalka

Roman
Opalka

French, 1931 — 2011


Author of a work that tries to give a tangible form to the passing of time, the artistic practice of Roman Opalka is inseparable from his daily life. Every day, until his death, he painstakingly created a pictorial work as prolific as it was obsessive, striving for a specific process he put in place in 1965.

His permanent project Opalka 1965/1 - ∞ (1956-2011) is a series of 233 same size canvases, featuring rows of consecutive numbers painted in white acrylic. Roman Opalka continued working on this project every day, painting on increasingly lighter canvases: initially tracing digits in white on a black background, Opalka’s last digits are white on white, invisible. In 1972, this theme was bolstered with a photo of himself and a daily voice recording.

The works of Roman Opalka in the Pinault Collection were first shown at the Punta della Dogana as part of the “Prima Materia” exhibition (2013-15).
Roman Opalka's artwork
Expositions