1879
Paul Klee is born in Münchenbuchsee near Bern on 18 December, the son of Hans Klee, a teacher of music, and Ida Klee-Frick, singer.

1898
Passes his high school-leaving exam [Maturität / Abitur] in Bern in September.

1898–1901
Studies art in Munich.

1906
Marriage to the Munich pianist Lily Stumpf (born 1876).

1912
Paul Klee takes part in the second exhibition of the Blaue Reiter [Blue Rider] group in Munich.

1914
Travels to Tunisia with his artist friends August Macke and Louis Moillet, and lives in Tunis and Kairouan. Klee discovers colour.

1920–1931
Paul Klee teaches and works at the Bauhaus in Weimar and Dessau.

1930
The Museum of Modern Art in New York stages a large Klee exhibition.

1931–1933
Paul Klee takes up a professorship at the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts, teaching painting.

1933
Paul Klee is defamed by the Nazi regime as a “degenerate artist”, and leaves Düsseldorf to immigrate to Bern with his wife Lily Klee-Stumpf. His son Felix Klee (born 1907), a theatre and opera director, remains in Germany, together with his wife Euphrosine Klee-Grejowa.

1940
Paul Klee dies at Sant’ Agnese Hospital at Locarno-Muralto on 29 June 1940. For a total of 33 years, a good half of his life, he lived in Bern.

Felix Klee renounces his claim to the inheritance of his father’s estate for the benefit of his mother.

Rolf Bürgi, Bern collector and friend of the Klees, supports the widow as property administrator and advisor on the management of the estate.