1915

born on November 11th in Szczecin as the fourth child of Anna Helene Heiliger, née Gensen, and the merchant Hermann Heiliger



1930-33

training as a stone sculptor in Szczecin



1933-36

education at the Stettiner Werkschule für Gestaltende Arbeiten with Kurt Schwerdtfeger



1938-41

study with Arno Breker at the Vereinigte Staatsschule für Freie und Angewandte Kunst in Berlin; intensive contact with Richard Scheibe; stay in Paris in the spring of 1939, meetings with Aristide Maillol and Charles Despiau; preoccupation with the works of Hans Arp and Constantin Brancusi



1941-45
military service at the eastern front, leave of absence during the winter semester 1942 and UK position in April 1943; work in Briezen in the workshops of Arno Breker; 1944 re-drafted and escape in northern Germany until the end of the war

1945

return to Berlin and the beginning of independent work as a sculptor



1946

first exhibitions in the residence of Karl Buchholz and the Rosen gallery;

1947-49

lectureship at the Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst in Berlin-Weißensee



1948

solo exhibition in the Bremer gallery; first small studio in the Schadow building on Unter den Linden; winner of the competition for the Max-Planck memorial



1949
move to the studio in Berlin-Dahlem (permanent living and working quarters for the rest of his life); appointment by Karl Hofer to the Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste (since 1975 known as the Hochschule der Künste - uninterrupted teaching activities until 1986); 


1950

art award from the city of Berlin and first major exhibition in the Haus am Waldsee in Berlin-Zehlendorf



1951

beginning of work on the portrait heads; Commission for the wall relief in the Schiller Theater, Berlin



1952

art award from the city of Cologne



1953

award of the German Federal Government and award of recognition from the Institute of Contemporary Art, London for the design of the memorial »Mahnmals des Unbekannten politischen Gefangenen«; Participation in the Biennial in São Paulo



1955

participation in documenta I in Kassel



1956

awarded the highest art award of North Rhine-Westphalia; Solo exhibition in the course of the XXVIIIth Biennial in Venice; erection of the bronze sculpture »Der Große Fährmann« on the Neckar bridge in Esslingen; Election to the Akademie der Künste, Berlin (resigned 1992)



1958

sculpture »Figurenbaum« commissioned by the Federal Government for the German pavilion of the world exhibition in Brussels (Architects: Sep Ruf, Egon Eiermann), film documentary about the creation of the piece by Herbert Segellke (music: Boris Blacher); visit by Henry Moore in the university studio



1959-60

participation in documenta II; first retrospective in the Stadthalle Wolfsburg and the Kongresshalle Berlin, the Kunsthalle Mannheim and the Lucerne art museum



1961

first voyage to the USA on the occasion of an exhibition in the Staempfli gallery, New York; Meeting with Marcel Duchamp



1962

Monograph »Bernhard Heiliger« by Hanns-Theodor Flemming



1963

exhibition of the large sculpture »Die Flamme« on Ernst-Reuter-Platz in Berlin, presented to the City by the Mayor at that time, Willy Brandt; Bronze relief »Pantha rhei« for the embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Paris; Aluminum sculpture »Auftakt« in the foyer of the Philharmonie, Berlin (Architect: Hans Scharoun)



1964

participation in documenta III; First solo exhibition in the Erker gallery, St. Gallen



1965

Burda award for sculpture



1966

set design for »Faust II« directed by Ernst Schröder in the Schiller Theater, Berlin (costumes: Alexander Camaro); Relief frieze for the Haus der Bürgerschaft in Bremen (architect: Wassili Luckhardt)



1967

participation in the International Exhibition of Contemporary Sculpture during Expo 67 in Montreal



1968

erection of the partially polished sculptures »Vertikale Motive I-III« in the sculpture court of the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin; these sculptures for the Mies van der Rohe building were the first partially polished bronzes in Heiliger’s oeuvre


1969
installation of the large-scale hanging sculpture “Kosmos 70”, made from aluminum, at the Berlin Reichstag, second film documentary by Herbert Seggellkes with a score by Boris Blacher; begin of the second phase of Heiliger’s work, typified by the attempt to create solitaries, apart form experimenting with a new range of materials, such as aluminum, polyester, Perspex, wood, marble and steel; gradual fading of the “bronze period”

1972

installation of the sculpture »Sonnenblatt« in the park of the Dutch royal family's castle Drakensteen; Film portrait of Bernhard Heiliger by Günther Schnabel



1973

the Israel Museum in Jerusalem receives the bronze »Vertikales Motiv II« as a gift from the artist and the Berlin Senate; creation of the film “Entstehung einer Plastik” (Creation of a Sculpture), in which blind participants describe Heiliger’s partially polished bronze “Sonnenblatt I” in poetic phrases (directed by Gerhard Labudda)



1974

awarded the Great Distinguished Service Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany; Erection of the bronze created in 1969 »Montana I«, in the park of the Hammerschmidt Villa, Bonn



1975

Lovis Corinth Prize of the German Federal Ministry of the Interior; Retrospective in the Akademie der Künste, Berlin and in the Saarland Museum, Saarbrücken; Making of the film »Licht-Skulptur-Raum: Eine Studie von Ernst Reinboth und Bernhard Heiliger« (Light-Sculpture-Space: A study by Ernst Reinboth and Bernhard Heiliger)



1978

appointment as a member of the Accademia Fiorentina delle Arte del Disegno, Florence; Monograph »Bernhard Heiliger« by A. M. Hammacher



1980

steel sculpture »Auge der Nemesis« on Kurfürstendamm in front the of the Berlin Schaubühne; Beginning of the »steel period«



1981

exhibition of ten large sculptures on the Moorweide in Hamburg, Levy gallery



1982

creation of the largest sculpture of the oeuvre, »Tag und Nacht« (in the possession of Daimler Benz AG, Stuttgart); the Hakone Open Air Museum in Tokyo acquires the sculpture »Echo III«



1984

honorary membership in the Deutsche Künstlerbund; Film »Gebannte Bewegung« (captured movement) directed by Hans Borgelt



1985

retrospective in the Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg; Creation of the sculpture »Deus ex macchina«



1987

»Echo I« and »Echo II« installed in front of the Berlin Philharmonic’s chamber-music hall, which was built according to the plans of Scharoun



1989

»Ulmer Tor« for the clinical center of the University of Ulm; The most extensive monograph of Bernhard Heiliger’s oeuvre at the time is published by Siegfried Salzmann and Lothar Romain



1991

major exhibition of eight large-scale sculptures in the Lustgarten and in the Alte Museum, Berlin, organized by the Nationalgalerie-Ost in cooperation with the Nationalgalerie-West, before the two institutions were merged



1995

retrospective at the Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn; Bernhard Heiliger passed away on October 25^th, 1995, in Berlin



1996

establishment of the Bernhard Heiliger Foundation