Sigmar Polke, 2004 Photo: © Flavia Vogel

1941
Born February 13 in Oels, Silesia (East Germany, now Poland); lives there until 1945.

1945
Flees to Thuringia (East Germany).

1953
Moves via West Berlin to Düsseldorf.

1959–1960
Apprenticeship as a glass painter in Düsseldorf-Kaiserswerth.

1961–1967
Studies at the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf under Karl Otto Goetz and Gerhard Hoehme.

1963
Founder of the Kapitalistischer Realismus (Capitalist Realism) painting style, together with Konrad Fischer-Lueg and Gerhard Richter. First public exhibition, Düsseldorf.

1970–1971
Guest professor at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Hamburg.

1972
Moves to the Gaspelshof commune in Willich/Niederrhein.

1974
Journey to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

1977–1991
Professor at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Hamburg.

1978
Moves to Cologne.

Sigmar Polke passed away in June 2010 in Cologne.




1966
Kunstpreis der deutschen Jugend, Baden-Baden (with Klaus Geldmacher and Dieter Krieg)

1975
Prize for painting of the city of São Paulo on the occasion of the 8th Bienal de São Paulo.

1982
Will Grohmann Prize, awarded by the Akademie der Künste, Berlin.

1984
Kurt Schwitters Prize, Hannover.

1986
 'Golden Lion' prize for painting.

1987
Lichtwark Prize, Freie und Hansestadt, Hamburg.

1994
Erasmus Prize, awarded by the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation, Amsterdam.

1995
Carnegie Prize, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1998
Art Award, 14th Annual Infinity Awards, International Center of Photography, New York, for the use of photography and other media.

2000
'Kaiserring' prize awarded by the city of Goslar, Germany.

2002
'Praemium Imperiale' Award for Painting, Japan Art Association, Tokyo.

2006
Winner of the competition for the re-design of the church windows in the ‘Grossmünster’ in Zurich.

2009
Awarded the Roswitha Haftmann prize 2010.

1966
First solo exhibition, Galerie René Block, Berlin.

1976
Big touring exhibition at the Kunsthalle Tübingen (afterwards Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf and Stedelijk van Abbemuseum Eindhoven).

1984
First big solo show in Switzerland, Kunsthaus Zurich (afterwards Kunsthalle Köln).

1990
Monographic touring exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (afterwards Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington/DC; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Brooklyn Museum, New York). Big retrospective of Sigmar Polke’s photographic work at the Kunsthalle Baden-Baden.

1995
Big touring retrospective of Sigmar Polke’s photographic work at The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles (afterwards Site Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington/D.C.).

1997
Big touring retrospective at the Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn (afterwards Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum of Contemporary Art Berlin).

1999
Retrospective of Sigmar Polke’s works on paper 1963–1974 at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Hamburger Kunsthalle.

2000
Exhibition at the Museum für neue Kunst, ZKM Karlsruhe.

2000–2001
Touring exhibition of the complete editions at the Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart (afterwards Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn, and Kunsthaus Zurich).

2003–2004
Big touring exhibition of paintings and drawings 1998–2003 at the Dallas Museum of Art (afterwards Tate Modern, London).

2004
Exhibition of recent und new works at the Kunsthaus Zürich.

2007
Retrospective at the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna.
Retrospective at the Museum Frieder Burda in Baden-Baden.
Exhibition at the Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Siegen.

2009
Exhibitions at the Hamburger Kunsthalle and the Museum Ludwig, Cologne.