1903:- Marcus Rothkowitz born to Anna Goldlin and Jacob Rothkowitz as the youngest of four children on sept. 25 in Dvinsk, Russia.
1910:- Father emigrates to U.S and settles in Portland, Oregon.
1913:- Marcus, his mother and sister emigrate to the U.S.
1914:- Father dies.
1921-23:- He attends Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
1924:- Takes anatomy with George Bridgeman at the Art Students League (ASL) in New York City.
1925:- Studies painting with Max Weber at ASL.
1929:- Starts teaching children at the Jewish Center Academy in Brooklyn.
1932:- Meets Milton Avery and Adolph Gottlieb.
:- Marries Edith Sacher.
1933:- First one-man show, at the Portland Museum of Art in Oregon.
1935:- Co-founder of the independent artists' group 'The Ten'. Members include Ben Zion, Adolph Gottlieb, Louis Harris, Jack Kufield, Louis Shanker, Joseph Solmon, Nuhum Tschacbasov and Ilya Bolotowsky.
1936:- Works at the painting department of the WPA in New York.
1938:- Becomes a citizen of the U.S.
1940:- Changes name to Mark Rothko.
1944:- Divorces Edith Sacher.
1945:- Marries Mary Alice ('Mell') Beistle.
1948:- Takes part in the Annual Exhibition for Contemporary American Sculpture, Watercolours and Drawing at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.
:- Mother Kate dies.
1949:- Teaches painting and lectures at the California School of Fine Arts.
:- Henceforth 'titles' his paintings only with numbers and years.
1950:- Visits Europe.
:- Daughter Kate is born.
1951:- Becomes professor of drawing at Brooklyn College.
1952:- Participates in the famous '15 Americans' show at the New York Museum of Modern Art.
1954:- Exhibits at the Art Institute of Chicago.
:- Contract with Sidney Janis Gallery in New York.
1955:- One-man show at the Sidney Janis Gallery.
1957:- Becomes artist-in-residence at Tulane University in New Orleans.
1958:- Contract to paint murals for the Seagram's Building in New York.
1959:- Visits Europe.
:- Pulls out of Seagram contract after seeing the space he is supposed to fill.
1961:- Hired by Harvard University to decorate a dinning hall at the Holyoke Center.
1963:- Sends 6 murals to Harvard. Chooses 5 for a permanent installation.
:- Son Christopher born.
:- Contract with Marlborough Gallery in New York.
1964:- Hired by John and Dominique de Menil to create monumental murals for a chapel in Houston.
1965:- Enters talks with Sir Norman Reid, director of the Tate Gallery, on donations to the museum.
1967:- Teaches at University of California in Berkeley.
1968:- Suffers an aortal aneurysm, 3 weeks in hostpital.
:- Begins to catalog his work.
1969:- Separates from Mell.
:- Moves out of theirs house and into his studio.
:- Begins to work on the 'Dark Paintings'.
:-Receives an honorary doctorate from Yale.
1970:- Rothko commits suicide on Feb 25.
1971:- Dedication of the 'Rothko Chapel' on Houston, Texas. the building belongs to the Rice University Institute for Religion and Human Development.
