Born in Brussels in 1927

Lives and works in France from 1951

1944-1948: studies typography and book illustration at La Cambre, the national school of architecture and decorative arts, Brussels; he begins to paint on the side
1947: first individual exhibition, Galerie Lou Cosyn, Brussels
1949: participates in the CoBrA (Copenhagen-Brussels-Amsterdam) movement with Karel Appel, Constant, Corneille, Christian Dotremont, Asger Jorn ...; creates a center for research for CoBrA in the Ateliers du Marais : the common house in Brussels where Alechinsky, Olyff, Strebelle, de Heusch, Reinhoud ... work
1951: Dotremont and Jorn, hospitalized in Denmark, charge him with organizing the Second (and last) International Exhibition of Experimental Art of CoBrA at the Palais de Beaux-Arts in Liège. After this, he leaves Brussels and moves to Paris
1952: improves his engraving technique at the Atelier 17 beside Stanley William Hayter 1954: first individual exhibition in Paris, Galerie Nina Dausset
1955: leaves from Marseille for Yokohama, directs a film in Kyoto : Calligraphie japonaise
1958: collaborates on Daily-Bûl, La Louvière; joins the committee of directors of the Salon de Mai in Paris
1961: room of honor at Carnegie International of 1961 in Pittsburgh; first trip to New York, staying at the Chelsea Hotel, and then at the home of Walasse Ting, whom Alechinsky knew in the 50s in Paris
1962: until 1986, 18 shows at the Lefebre Gallery, New York




1964: installs his studio in Bougival (Yvelines)
1965: Central Park, his first painting "with noticeable margins," a method that he would develop; he imposes a drawing around a central subject; he gradually abandons oil painting for acrylic on paper on canvas
1966: André Breton chooses Central Park for L’Écart absolu, Eleventh [and final] International Exhibition of Surrealism, Paris
1968: Wins the Grand Prix Marzotto-Europe for painting, Valdagno
1969: retrospective at the Palais de Beaux-Arts in Brussels, which traveled to Denmark and Germany e
1975: shows a decade´s worth of acrylic paintings at the Boymans-van Beuningen museum in Rotterdam and at the Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris
1976: Sept écritures, with Christian Dotremont, a mural decoration in a metro station in Brussels
1977: Andrew W. Mellon Prize for the whole of his work, arranged in a retrospective at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh.
1979: joins the Galerie Maeght in Paris, which would become Galerie Lelong
1980: retrospective at the Kestner Society, Hannover
1981: ‘A Print Retrospective' at the Museum of Modern Art, New York
1984: Professor at the French National School of Fine Arts, Paris – until 1987; Grand Prix National des Arts et Lettres, Paris
1985: decorates the waiting room of the Ministry of Culture, Paris
1986: Margin and Center, retrospective of paintings "with noticeable margins," The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
1987: installs a studio in Provence




1989: Fluctuations, allegorical painting for the Ministry of Finances, Paris
1992: decorates the entrance to Ministry of National Education, Paris; publishes Lettre suit (Gallimard)
1993: The Fragile Garden, a mural painting in the small rotunda that connects the Hôtel de Lassay with the Palais Bourbon; retrospective at Saarland Museum, Saarbrücken.
1994: Honorary doctorate from the Université Libre de Bruxelles.
1995: Zoek de Zeven, with Hugo Claus, decoration with enamel wash at RUCA, Antwerp
1998: retrospective at the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris; retrospective at the Printroom of the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Geneva.
1999: Brush Thought in homage to Asger Jorn, mural with enamel wash at the Silkeborg Kunstmuseum (Denmark)
2000: Alechinsky, divers faits, Musée Jenisch, Vevey. Alechinsky, 50 ans d´imprimerie, Center for Engraving, La Louvière
2002: Alechinsky, The Complete Books (Ceuleers & Van de Velde, Antwerp
2004: Dessins de cinq décennies, retrospective at the Georges Pompidou Center, Paris. Prix André Malraux for Des deux mains (Mercure de France) and Carnet en deux temps (Buchet-Castel)
2005: Les Impressions de Pierre Alechinsky, Bibliothèque nationale de France; individual exhibition at the Kunsthalle in Emden
2006: Alechinsky, sources et resurgences by Daniel Abadie (Hazan) with an exhibition at the Maison René Char in L´Isle-sur-la-Sorgue ; Peter et Pierre, forty years of lithographies with Peter Bramsen (Buchet-Chastel)
2007: Les Affiches, catalogue raisonné (Ides et Calendes), Alechinsky from A to Y by Michel Draguet (Gallimard and Lannoo) for the present retrospective in Brussels at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium.