After discharge from the Army in 1945, Olitski married and stayed with Leo and Alma Gershenson in Asheville, NC. After some time, following Leo's advice, he traveled to Mexico. He later returned to New York, and then in the late 40s went to Paris on the G.I. Bill where he studied at the Ossip Zadkine School and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, both in Paris. In Paris he saw the European modern masters and engaged in a severe self-analysis, which involved painting while blindfolded to remove himself from all of his customary habits and facility.