| Timeline |
| 1879 |
Born 18 December in Münchenbuchsee, near Bern, Switzerland |
| 1898 |
Graduates from Literarschule of Bern Gymnasium |
| 1898 |
Moves to Munich |
| 1900 |
Attends the Munich Academy, studies under Franz von Stuck |
| 1901 |
Tours Italy |
| 1902 |
Settles in Berlin |
| 1906 |
Marries pianist Lili Stumpf, settles in Munich |
| 1910 |
Joins Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), an expressionist group |
| 1914 |
Helps found the Neue Münchner Secession |
| 1914 |
Travels to Tunisia |
| 1916 |
Drafted into German infantry reserves |
| 1918 |
Discharged from military duty |
| 1920 |
Exhibition at Gallerie Neue Kunst in Munich |
| 1920 |
Teacher at Bauhaus, Germany's most advanced art school, until 1931 |
| 1931 |
Begins teaching at Dusseldorf Academy |
| 1933 |
Expelled from Germany by the Nazis |
| 1934 |
First signs of the disease scleroderma, which will eventually kill him |
| 1937 |
Seventeen of his works are included in the Nazi exhibition "Entartete Kunst" (degenerate art) |
| 1940 |
Dies 29 June in Muralto, Switzerland |
