In Zao Wou-ki's memoirs there is a passage in which he recalls his month-long sea voyage from Shanghai to Paris, a trip that featured several stops on the way before he finally arrived in the City of Arts on April 1, 1948. Zao had barely set foot in the city when he headed straight to the Louvre to feast his eyes on the masterpieces of Western art. He was thrilled by the prospect of immersing himself in the viewing and admiration of artistic works like never before, and for more than a year all he did was visiting museums, galleries and concerts-and learning French. During this period of time, he hardly painted at all, though he did the occasional sketch or block print. Later he spent a lot of time at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, where he became acquainted with a number of fellow artists, many of which would go on to become renowned painters, such as Hans Hartung, Nicolas de Staël, Pierre Soulages, Vieira da Silva and Sam Francis.

In 1949, he won the first prize in a sketch competition for young artists, a great encouragement for Zao, who was still finding his way and direction in the world of painting. By May of the same year, he was able to hold his first solo exhibition in Paris, which was a big success. In 1950, Pierre Loeb, an eminent art dealer who had exhibited the paintings of countless grandmasters, and had famously declared to never act as an agent for Chinese painters, decided at the recommendation of the art critic Henri Michaux to buy as many as eleven of Zao's pieces. It was the beginning of a long partnership. The year 1950 also marked the beginning of a tradition that saw Zao's paintings exhibited at the Salon de Mai on a regular basis for the next twenty something years. It was from here that Zao's artistic voyage truly took off.

When Zao was working on his 1950 oil painting "Bateaux sur fond noir" he had yet to discover the oeuvre of Paul Klee (which he would in 1951), yet the piece already displayed the first inklings of his own characteristic lines and vibrant symbolism. It was during that period that Henri Michaux spotted the existence of a latent lyricism in Zao's paintings, which inspired him to write poems in their praise. Zao, an avid reader of classical Chinese poetry since his early childhood, naturally had a deep understanding of vistas and imagery in both poems and pictures, in particular since in Chinese art poetry and painting often tend to melt into one. This affinity helped Zao to use uncomplicated forms and colors to attract the attention of his peers, such as Jean Dubuffet. And it was the sculptor Alberto Giacometti who once said that he particularly enjoyed the concrete, unveiled elements in Zao's paintings.

As early as 1950 Zao had decided to focus his efforts on oil painting. Largely influenced by the mural paintings in churches and cathedrals, he spent much time on studying carefully how to employ a two-dimensional medium to produce a three-dimensional effect. He also explored different ways of composition and arrangement of objects in his paintings. The art critic Daniel Marchesseau expressed his appreciation this way: "Il retrouve alors une voie pour son pinceau, entre délés orientalisants et architectures classiques."(cf. p.22 of the exhibition catalogue Zao Wou-ki 60 ans de peintures, published in Chinese by Sanlian Publishers, Shanghai, 1998). Zao developed this particular style in the formative years of 1950 and 1951, and it would become the basis for his later artistic development towards an "abstract expressionism"

The original French title of Zao's "Bateaux sur fond noir" completed in 1950, translates as "Three ships on a black background."And suffice to say that the composition, the distribution of the three ships on canvas, is the result of a painstaking creative process. As Zao Wou-ki himself puts it: "J'étais obsédépar l'idée? que je devais chaque jour trouver un sujet: un bateau, deux bateaux, trois bateaux, une nature morte, un paysage. Cela devenait un probléme de mise en page, d'rrangement. Il fallait découvrir une variation, créer une atmosphére, rendre compte du présent."(Zao Wou-ki, Autoportrait, Librairie Arthéme Fayard, Paris, 1988, p.104). "Bateaux sur fond noir" for all its meticulous composition, displays a striking simplicity in the lines of the mountains and trees in the background, accompanied by a bright moon on the edge of dark water in greenish shades of black. The ships cruising quietly through the night create a serene atmosphere, immersing the entire scene in the lyric tranquility of a fairy tale or fantasy world.