Painting – Time. Roman Opałka
17 October 2025 – 6 January 2026
An artistic project comprising the Opałka 1965/1 - ∞ series of paintings is one of the most consistent and radical gestures in the history of contemporary art. In 1965, Roman Opałka began painting successive numbers, creating a visual and systematic record of the passing of time - a personal journal of existence, which he continued to expand until his passing in 2011. Each painting, which he titled Details, follows up on the previous one while being an independent carrier of meaning, inscribed in the experience of the moment. The project not only depicted time, but embodied it as its rhythm, form and trace.
Roman Opałka considered counting as a form of spiritual discipline - a meditation on transience, an attempt to understand the essence of existence and its fragility. As the sequence of numbers progressed, the background of the paintings gradually became lighter - until it turned white, and the numbers were no longer visible. This quest for invisibility, a pursuit of the point when the number blends with the background, symbolises the conclusion, but also the entry into a new dimension - beyond time and beyond form. In this sense, the image becomes both a record and of time and a way to go beyond time.
The title of the Opałka 1965/1 - ∞ series, a fragment of which is shown at the Wawel Royal Castle, encapsulates the artist's philosophy - the concrete nature of the beginning and the indefinite nature of the end. The numbers become a meditation on existence and artistic action, in which the creative act is synonymous with permanence. In the context of the Painting - Time exhibition, Opałka's series serves as a bridge between the personal and the common; between the uniqueness of the moment and the permanence of memory.
As a royal residence, a seat of power and spirituality, and a token of national memory, the Wawel Castle becomes a unique backdrop for conceptual art which, despite being rooted in modernity, takes up universal themes of permanence, transience and the recording of presence. The introduction of conceptual art within the walls of the royal residence creates a dialogue between the past and the present, between the persistence of historical structures and the inevitability of the individual's passing. As a place of remembrance, the Wawel Castle gains a new dimension - it opens up for reflection on the persistence of people, ideas, and artistic forms. In this context, Roman Opałka's series becomes a testament not only to individual existence, but also to cultural continuity and the need to preserve a trace.
The paintings are from the private collection.
Dr. Bogumiła Wiśniewska
An artistic project comprising the Opałka 1965/1 - ∞ series of paintings is one of the most consistent and radical gestures in the history of contemporary art. In 1965, Roman Opałka began painting successive numbers, creating a visual and systematic record of the passing of time - a personal journal of existence, which he continued to expand until his passing in 2011. Each painting, which he titled Details, follows up on the previous one while being an independent carrier of meaning, inscribed in the experience of the moment. The project not only depicted time, but embodied it as its rhythm, form and trace.
Roman Opałka considered counting as a form of spiritual discipline - a meditation on transience, an attempt to understand the essence of existence and its fragility. As the sequence of numbers progressed, the background of the paintings gradually became lighter - until it turned white, and the numbers were no longer visible. This quest for invisibility, a pursuit of the point when the number blends with the background, symbolises the conclusion, but also the entry into a new dimension - beyond time and beyond form. In this sense, the image becomes both a record and of time and a way to go beyond time.
The title of the Opałka 1965/1 - ∞ series, a fragment of which is shown at the Wawel Royal Castle, encapsulates the artist's philosophy - the concrete nature of the beginning and the indefinite nature of the end. The numbers become a meditation on existence and artistic action, in which the creative act is synonymous with permanence. In the context of the Painting - Time exhibition, Opałka's series serves as a bridge between the personal and the common; between the uniqueness of the moment and the permanence of memory.
As a royal residence, a seat of power and spirituality, and a token of national memory, the Wawel Castle becomes a unique backdrop for conceptual art which, despite being rooted in modernity, takes up universal themes of permanence, transience and the recording of presence. The introduction of conceptual art within the walls of the royal residence creates a dialogue between the past and the present, between the persistence of historical structures and the inevitability of the individual's passing. As a place of remembrance, the Wawel Castle gains a new dimension - it opens up for reflection on the persistence of people, ideas, and artistic forms. In this context, Roman Opałka's series becomes a testament not only to individual existence, but also to cultural continuity and the need to preserve a trace.
The paintings are from the private collection.
Dr. Bogumiła Wiśniewska
Partner of the Wawel Royal Castle
Education Patron and Strategic Partner of the Wawel Royal Castle
Strategic Partner of the Wawel Royal Castle
Partner of the Wawel Royal Castle