1965/1 – ∞ was preceded by not only the Chronomes but also the series of works on paper, Etudes sur le Mouvement (Movement Studies, 1959–60), both of which Opałka saw as his “first attempts at grasping time.” 1965/1 – ∞ was structured as a more formal philosophical inquiry that would continue for over four decades until his death. The 233 paintings that resulted from this study are known as the Détails. By his death in 2011, he had written over five million numbers (over thirty-eight million digits); the final number written was 5,607,249. After embarking upon this endeavor, Opałka found himself physically and psychically affected by his efforts to catalogue limitlessness. He immersed himself in crucial philosophical, historical, and scientific concepts that attempt to delineate infinity and time. The artist then identified an accompanying system, the “horizon of sevens” (7 777 777), that he estimated as the human frontier of perception, articulating the units in operational time in science in visual form.

Opałka began a series of self-portrait photographs in 1968 that captured his likeness alongside the Détail paintings. In 1972, Opałka also started recording himself saying each number in Polish to signal to future viewers that he had painted every single one. Opałka moved to rural France in 1977, settling and establishing his studio in Teillé, near Le Mans. He obtained French citizenship in 1985.

Opałka began exhibiting in Poland in the mid-1960s, and by the early 1970s was represented in solo and group exhibitions throughout Europe and in Asia and Latin America. His first trip to the United States came in 1972, and his first US exhibition opened in 1974 at the John Weber Gallery, New York. In the following forty years, Opałka’s work has been shown in numerous gallery and museum exhibitions worldwide. His work has been the subject of retrospective exhibitions and writings in several languages, and he has participated in recurring international exhibitions such as Documenta (1977), São Paulo Bienal (1987), and the Venice Biennale (1995, 2003), have brought him global recognition. In 2009, he was awarded the Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France as well as the Gloria Artis Gold Medal for Merit to Culture in Poland. Work by Opałka is held in major museum collections, including the Centre Pompidou, Paris; La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Kunsthalle Hamburg; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Nationalgalerie, Berlin; and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.

In fall 2014, Dominique Lévy Gallery presented Roman Opałka: Painting ∞, which provided a comprehensive overview of the artist’s career. The accompanying fully illustrated catalogue featured an essay by curator and historian Charles Wylie; an original poem by Jacques Roubaud; and a conversation between Marie-Madeleine Opalka, the artist’s widow, and François Barré—a former French Minister of Culture. In spring 2016, Dominique Lévy presented Roman Opałka: Passages in its London gallery.

Opałka died in Chieti, Italy, in August 2011. Dominique Lévy began representing the Estate of Roman Opałka in 2012, and since 2017 has continued to represent the Estate as Lévy Gorvy.