1921
Joseph Beuys is born in Krefeld on May 12th
1941-1945
Military service as an assault fighter pilot
1946-1954
Studies in sculpture at the Düsseldorf Art Academy, first with Joseph Enseling and then with Ewald Mataré, whose master student he becomes
1953
First solo exhibition at the van der Grinten house in Kranenburg
1961
Professor at the Düsseldorf Art Academy
1964/1968
Participation in Documenta 3 + 4
1967
Founding of the "German Student Party,"
First major solo exhibition "Parallelprozess 1" at Städtisches Museum Mönchengladbach, Germany
1972
Participation in Documenta 5 with the office of the "Organization for Direct Democracy through Referendum," which he had founded the year before
Dismissal as professor
1974
First trip to the USA with lectures at universities in New York, Chicago and Minneapolis
1976
Participation in the Venice Biennale with the environment "Straßenbahnhaltestelle"
Lichtwark Prize of the City of Hamburg
1977
Participation in Documenta 6 in Kassel with the installation "Honigpumpe am Arbeitsplatz"
1978
Thorn-Prikker prize from the city of Krefeld
Manifesto "Call for an Alternative" appears in the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper
1979/80
Kaiserring of the city of Goslar
Co-founder of the Green Party
Candidacy for the European elections (1979) + top candidate for the Bundestag elections (1980)
Major retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in New York
1982
Participation in Documenta 7 with the action "Stadt-Verwaldung anstelle von Stadt-Verwaltung. 7000 Eichen"
1986
Wilhelm Lehmbruck Prize of the city of Duisburg
Joseph Beuys dies on January 23 in Düsseldorf