John Weber Gallery, New York
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 1976

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the illustration fails to convey the repeated patternation and the variety of tonality in the written numbers. Condition: This work is in very good condition. Very close inspection reveals a pin-sized fly spot towards the centre of the composition, and another towards the centre of the top edge.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Well over forty years have passed since Roman Opalka decided to dedicate his entire life to recording the numbers one to infinity on canvas. Of this remarkable endeavour, which is today preserved in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The National Gallery, Berlin, the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, and the Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Japan, Opalka 1965/1 – ∞, Detail 2578759- 2601103, is a testament to the artist's fervent dedication to this insurmountable undertaking. The very early numbering of the present Opalka 1965/1 – ∞, Detail 2578759- 2601103 makes it a pioneering example from the artist's series where the chromatic differentiation between the intensity of the paint still contrasts strongly with the canvas expanse.

Since 1965 Opalka has conceived his oeuvre as a single, continuous work, with the numbers on each canvas recorded in horizontal rows from the upper left and concluding at the lower right corner, and each successive painting beginning where the previous one left off. As the integers progress their chromatic intensity periodically wanes as Opalka's brush is depleted of paint before it is replenished to scribe initially brighter numbers. The repetition of this process leads to a very beautiful disposition of tone across the composition, while also recording the artist's physically intense act. The works are each labelled 1965/1 – ∞, Detail followed by the first and last number on the canvas, thereby marking the calendar year Opalka began his enterprise and, by signifying one to infinity, implicating the purely hypothetical nature of the Infinite. The artist's ambition is to reflect human consciousness in the way that it comprises, at each moment, the sum of all moments before. Experience and time are embedded in the core of these awe-inspiring works, which simultaneously bear witness to Opalka's concept, performance, and abstraction.

Opalka's canvases are all uniform in size based on the precise dimensions of the door to his former studio in Warsaw. In the early 1970s he decided to add one percent more white to this grey gro꧋und with each new 'Detail'. The white of the paint will signify the infinity that his numbers can never denote. The faintly visible brush marks on the surfaces of this extraordinary painting captures a fleeting moment before ground and figure would one day become indistinguishable. Complex and profoundly subtle, these 'Details' are transcendent testimony to an artist who was persistent to inscribe time against the oblivion of infinitude.