Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928 - 2000)
 
1928
Born Friedrich Stowasser on 15th December in Vienna
1938
Following Austria’s annexation by National Socialist Germany, forced move to aunt and grandmother on Obere Donaustrasse
1943
69 Jewish family members deported and murdered
1948
Graduation from school (“university entrance certificate”). Spends three months at Vienna’s Academy of Fine Arts
1949
Renames himself Hundertwasser. Begins extensive travels. Develops own style
1952
First exhibition in Vienna’s Art Club
1953
Paints his first spiral
1954
First exhibition in Paris at Paul Facchetti’s gallery. Develops "Transautomatism" art theory and begins numbering his paintings
1955
Exhibition at Carlo Cardazzo’s Galleria del Naviglio, Milan
1956
Publishes "La visibilité de la création transautomatique" (The visibility of transautomatist creation) in "Cimaise" and "Phases" in Paris
1957
Publishes "Grammatik des Sehens" (Visual grammar) in Paris
1958
Read out his "Verschimmelungsmanifest gegen den Rationalismus in der Architektur" (Mouldiness Manifesto Against Rationalism in Architecture) at a symposium at the Seckau monastery
1959
Foundation of the "Pintorarium" – a universal academy of all creative arts  – together with Ernst Fuchs and Arnulf Rainer. As a visiting lecturer at Hamburg’s University of Fine Arts he draws the  "Endlose Linie" (Endless Line) with Bazon Brock and Herbert Schuldt
1961
Visits Japan. Enjoys huge success at an exhibition in the Tokyo Gallery
1962
Marries Yuko Ikewada (divorces 1966). Paints in a studio on the Giudecca, Venice. Enjoys success at retrospective exhibition at the Venice Biennale
1964
Large retrospective in the Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hanover, with oeuvre catalogue
1966
Ferry Radax produces first documentary film about Hundertwasser entitled “Unhappy in love”
1967
First nude speech for "The Right to a Third Skin" in Munich
1968 - 1972
The "San Giuseppe T" sailing boat is renovated and renamed the "Regentag" in Venice
1968
Second nude speech and reading of "Los von Loos" (Loose from Loos) architecture boycott manifesto in Vienna
1969
Museum exhibitions in the US
1971
Lives and works aboard the "Regentag" in Venice lagoon. Works on the Olympic poster for Munich.
1970 - 1972
Collaboration with Peter Schamoni on the film "Hundertwasser's Regentag". Works on graphic art portfolio "a rainy day" in Lengmoos, Bavaria
1972
Friendship with Joram Harel.
 Demonstrates in support of roof forestation and individual facade design on the "Wünsch dir was" (Make a Wish) TV show. Publishes "Your window right – your tree duty" manifesto.
1973
First portfolio with Japanese woodcuts: "Nana Hyaku Mizu". Hundertwasser is the first European painter to have his works cut by Japanese masters. Takes part in the Milan Triennial, where some 15 trees are planted in the Via Manzoni. Traveling exhibition in New Zealand.
1975
Retrospective exhibition in Haus der Kunst, Munich. Publishes "Humus-Toilet" (composting toilet) manifesto in Munich. Designs "Spiral Tree" postage stamp for Austria. Launches the series "Modern Art in Austria". Wolfgang Seidel is the engraver of all postage stamps.
The world travelling exhibition begins in the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris – the exhibition goes on display in 43 museums in 27 countries until 1983. Hundertwasser’s complete graphic oeuvre begins world travelling exhibition in the Albertina, Vienna. It continues until 1992 exhibiting in more than 80 museums and galleries in 15 countries.
Sails the "Regentag" across the Atlantic to the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal to
the Pacific.
1978
Designs "Peace flag for the Holy Land" with a green Arab sickle moon and blue Star of David against a white background in Venice. Publishes his "Peace Manifesto".
1979
Austria’s National Printing Office prints three stamps he designed for Senegal. Reads "Shit Culture – Holy Shit" manifesto in Pfäffikon on the Lake of Zurich. The touring exhibition "Hundertwasser Is Painting" featuring 40 new works travels to New York, Tokyo, Hamburg, Oslo, Paris, London and Vienna.
1980
"Hundertwasser Day" in Washington DC with tree planting in Judiciary Square. Speaks on ecology, against nuclear power and for an architecture respecting man and nature in the US Senate, the Corcoran Gallery and the Phillips Collection in Washington DC, in Berlin, and at the technical universities in Vienna and Oslo.
1981
Awarded Austrian National Prize. Appointed to the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna. Writes "Guidelines for the Hundertwasser Master School".
1983
Designs six postage stamps for the United Nations. Founds a committee for the preservation of the old Kawakawa Post Office, New Zealand. Works on 10,002 versions of "Homo Humus How Do You Do" in Spinea. Designs Koru flag for New Zealand.
1984
Takes an active part in campaigns to save Hainburg riparian forest
1985
Collaboration with architect Peter Pelikan begins. Works all year on the building site of the Hundertwasser House in Vienna. 70,000 visitors attend open day.
1986
Designs "Uluru – Downunder Flag" for Australia. Designs the Brockhaus Encyclopaedia.
1987
Refurbishes St. Barbara's Church in Bärnbach, Styria. Designs the Heddernheim day-care centre in Frankfurt.
1988
Remodels Austrian license plates while campaigning to preserve black number plates
1989
BBuilds architecture model "Meadows in the hills"
1990
Works on architectural projects: Kunst Haus Wien, Vienna; motorway restaurant Bad Fischau; district heating plant Spittelau, Vienna; “In the Meadows”, Bad Soden, Germany; Kalke Village shopping centre, Vienna; Muntlix textile factory, Vorarlberg; Winery Napa Valley, California
1991
Inauguration of Kunst Haus Wien on 9th April. Works on architectural projects: inner courtyard of Plochingen housing development in Germany; the Blumau thermal village, Styria, which represents the realisation of Hundertwasser's "Meadows in the hills" idea
1992
Construction of “Countdown 21st Century Clock” in Tokyo
1993
Campaigned against Austria’s accession to the European Union
1995
Creation of the Hundertwasser bible
1996
Exhibition at the Braunschweig municipal museum. Unveiling of the "MS Vindobona" Danube cruise ship in Vienna that Hundertwasser refurbished
1997
Design and planning of architectural projects: the Forest Spiral of Darmstadt and the Hohe-Haine in Dresden, Germany; waste incineration plant for Osaka, Japan; Altenrhein Market Hall, Switzerland. Renovation begins on the Martin Luther Gymnasium in Wittenberg, Germany.
1998
Retrospective museum exhibition at the Mathildenhöhe Institute in Darmstadt, Germany, and in Japan. Architectural design for the “Pumping Station”, Sakishima Island, Osaka. Works on the "La Giudecca Colorata" portfolio
1999
Architectural projects: “Sludge Center”, Osaka; The Green Citadel of Magdeburg, Uelzen railway station, Ronald McDonald House, Essen. Hundertwasser lives and paints in New Zealand. Renovates his ‘Regentag’ sailing boat. Works on construction of Kawakawa Public Toilet, New Zealand that he designed. Develops layout for his “Catalogue Raisonné”, defined sizes for reproductions of his works and designs cover for his two-volume work. Museum exhibitions of architectural works in Japan
2000
Composes commentaries to many of his works for oeuvre catalogue. Architectural projects for Tenerife and Dillingen/Saar, Germany. Dies 19th of February of heart failure in the Pacific, aboard the Queen Elizabeth 2. He is buried under a tulip tree in his “garden of happy deceased”, in harmony with nature on his own land in New Zealand in accordance with his wish.