1925
Born in Lyalpur (now Faislabad, Pakistan) to Kahan Chand Khanna, a teacher at an intermediate college and Shiela Khanna (nee Shimla Kumari).

1927
The Khanna family moves to Lahore and Krishen begins his schooling at Sacred Heart and Cathedral School.

1930
Kahan Chand Khanna leaves for England to pursue a doctorate in British Indian History.

1932
Kahan Chand Khanna returns to Lahore with copies of Leonardo da Vinci's Self Portrait and The Last Supper. Krishen Khanna's preoccupation with the Christ narrative can be traced back to this year, when he first attempted to reproduce The Last Supper.

1936
The Khanna family moves to Multan.

1938
Krishen Khanna, aged 13, receives the Rudyard Kipling Scholarship to study at the Imperial Services College in Windsor, England, where he first studies art.

1940
The Lahore Conference of the Muslim League is held where Muhammad Ali Jinnah declares the need for a separate state based on religious differences.

1942
The Second World War interrupts Khanna's education. He passes Certificate A of the British War Office along with his Oxford and Cambridge School Certificate with art as a subject.

Khanna returns to Multan. This journey was significant as his cabin mate died during the voyage and had to be buried at sea. This memory is reflected later in Khanna's art, where he dwells on drowning.

Khanna joins Emerson College and passes the Intermediate Exam with Persian.

1944
The Khanna family moves to Lahore, where Krishen joins the Government College and completes his BA (honours).

1946
Khanna joins Sheikh Ahmed's Studio One to study drawing, and also begins work at the Kapur Art Press, where he learns the fine art of print making. He is paid Rs 350 as his first salary, out of which he buys a painting by Pran Nath Mago, signaling a long tryst with art collecting.

Khanna exhibits at the annual exhibition of the Punjab Art Society, where his painting 'Dead Tree' is commended.

1947, August 12th
The Khanna family flees from Lahore to India, in a car that carries the five of them and all the belongings that they could fit.

1947, August 15th
India gains independence amidst terrifying violence and mass migration. The state of Pakistan is created.

1948
Krishen moves to Bombay, where he is appointed an officer at Grindlay's Bank.

S.B. Palsikar becomes a close friend.

The first exhibition Khanna encounters is F.N. Souza's at Bombay Art Gallery, which impresses him so much that he wants to acquire one of the paintings. Soon, Krishen befriends Souza and other members of Progressive Artists' Group, including Husain, Gade, Ara, Gaitonde, Raza, Samant, Tyeb Mehta and Bendre.

Khanna's painting 'News of Gandhiji's Death' is included in the Bombay Art Society's Golden Jubilee Exhibition. Rudy von Leyden, the art critic at the Times of India, writes about Khanna's work and introduces him to M.F. Husain.

1949
Husain inducts Khanna into the Progressive Artists' Group, in exchange for which Khanna opens Husain's first bank account at Grindlay's.

1950
Khanna marries Renu Chatterji on her return from Bedford College, London.

1951
The Jehangir Art Gallery and the Bhulabhai Institute are set up.

1952
Khanna's daughter Rasika is born.

1953
Khanna is transferred to Grindlay's Madras and moves to Nungambakkam with Renu and Rasika.

Carnatic music and Bharatnatyam dance influence Khanna to execute a series of paintings of musicians.

1954
Travels to Europe with Renu for six months, visiting Rome, Arezzo, Assisi, Paris and London.

Khanna's second daughter Malati is born in Delhi.

In November, a joint exhibition of Khanna and Husain's work is held at the All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS), New Delhi.

1956
American collector Tom Keehn organizes an exhibition of eight painters, including Khanna, at the Indian and Eastern Newspaper Society, New Delhi. Sir Kenneth Clark visits the exhibition and encourages Khanna to show at the Leicester Galleries, London.

Khanna's son Karan is born.

1957
Solo exhibition at AIFACS, New Delhi.

Khanna participates in the Tokyo Biennale, Japan.

1958
The Khannas move to Kanpur.

Solo exhibition at Kumar Gallery, New Delhi.

1959
The Progressive Artists' Group opens Gallery 59 with Bal Chhabda in Bombay.

Khanna also exhibits in Zurich, Cairo, New York and in a show at the Leicster Galleries, London, titled 'Artists of Fame and of Promise'.

1960
Khanna resigns from his Grindlay's Bank job. His resignation however is not accepted and he is offered a transfer to Bombay or Madras.

Khanna holds his first solo exhibition at the Leicester Galleries, London.

1961
Gallery 59 is shut down

Khanna quits his banking job to pursue painting full time, and the Khannas move to 3B Mathura Road, New Delhi. Khanna bags a Rs. 500 a month contract with Kumar Art Gallery and Renu works as a school teacher and psychologist at Modern School, New Delhi.

1962
Khanna receives the John D. Rockefeller III Fund Fellowship, the first artist to receive the grant.

Khanna chooses to travel to Dhaka, Rangoon, Singapore, Indonesia and Japan and adapts the ancient Asian art of Sumi-e to his work.

Renu and Krishen then travel to New York on a fellowship from the Council for Economic and Cultural Affairs, where Krishen converts one of the bathrooms at the Chelsea Hotel into a studio.

Khanna represents India at the Venice Biennale.

1963
Dr. Laxmi P. Sihare curates 'Eight Contemporary Artists from India' at Lever House, New York. Khanna's work is included in the show.

1963-64
Khanna is Artist in Residence at the American University in Washington, DC.

1965
Khanna has a very successful opening at New York's Egan gallery, and one of his Sumi-e paintings is acquired by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and another by the de Menil Foundation, Houston.

Khanna's painting, 'Window into Winter', wins the National Award at the Lalit Kala Akademi Annual Exhibition.

1968
Khanna and Prodosh Das Gupta are appointed commissioners for compiling the Indian art section of the first Indian Triennale.

1969
Solo exhibitions of Khanna's photographs are held at Kunika Chemould Gallery, New Delhi, and Pundole Art Gallery, Bombay.

Khanna is invited to participate in 'Contemporary Art, Dialogue between East and West' at the Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo.

1971
Khanna begins his most celebrated series of works on Christ and the Apostles, Bandwallas and the Roadside Dhaba.

Khanna's work is exhibited at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC.

1974
Khanna befriends Anthony Lousada of the Tate Gallery, London, and through him, meets Henri Cartier-Bresson and helps him with his series of photographs on Delhi.

1975
Khanna paints a large mural in graphite for the Chola Sheraton Hotel in Chennai, and designs a mosaic platform for the World Wildlife Fund in Mumbai.

1980
Khanna's first solo exhibition at Rabindra Bhavan, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi.

1982
Khanna's work is included in 'Myth and Reality' at the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, 'Contemporary Indian Art' at Burlington House, London, and 'Modern Indian Painters' at the Hirshorn Museum, Washington, DC.

1980-84
Khanna works on 'The Great Procession' a mural for the Maurya Sheraton Hotel, New Delhi.

1986
Khanna is honoured with the President's Award at the Baghdad International Festival of Art.

1989
Khanna is awarded the Gold Medal at the First International Biennale of Art, Lahore, and the Sahitya Kala Parishad Award, New Delhi.

1990
Khanna is awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India.

1996
Khanna's work is included in 'The Moderns', the inaugural show of the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Mumbai.

1997
Khanna is awarded the Kala Ratna by AIFACS, New Delhi.

1999
Khanna's solo show, titled 'Mahabharat', is held at Gallery 7, Mumbai.

2001
Krishen Khanna: A Critical Biography by Gayatri Sinha is published by Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi.

2002
The Time of My Life: Memories, Anecdotes, Tall Talk is published by Viking

2004
Khanna receives the Lalit Kala Ratna from the President of India.

2005
Saffronart and Berkeley Square Gallery organize an exhibition of Khanna’s work in London.

The Embrace of Love by Gayatri Sinha, is published by Mapin Publications.

2007
Saffronart, Osborne Samuel and Berkeley Square Gallery organize an exhibition of Khanna’s work at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, inaugurated by Vikram Seth.

Krishen Khanna, Images in My Time is published as a part of the Contemporary Indian Artists Series by Mapin Publications.

The Great Procession: A Mural by Krishen Khanna is published as a part of the Contemporary Indian Artists Series by Mapin Publications.

2008
Chola Migrations by Norbert Lynton is published by Mapin Publications.