1948 Born in Planegg near Munich
1968 – 1970 Apprenticeship as a publishing bookseller
1972 Trip to Asia
1970 – 1975 Worked as a graphic designer in various publishing houses
1973 – 1979 Studies of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the Free University of Berlin
1975/76 Travels to Mexico and the USA; then takes up artistic work as a painter
1977 Co-founder of Galerie am Moritzplatz in Berlin; first solo exhibition FLUT, Galerie am Moritzplatz , Berlin
1979 Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Scholarship
1980 Exhibition „Heftige Malerei“, Haus am Waldsee, Berlin
1981 Trip to Indonesia
1982 – 1983 Villa Massimo Scholarship, Rome
1983 – 1984 Stay in Rome
1984 Exhibition “A Recent Survey of International Painting and Sculpture”, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
move from Rom to Polling/Oberbayern
1986 – 1987 Stay in Rapallo
1987 Exhibition Berlinart
1961 – 1987 The Museum of Modern Art, New York / The Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco
1988 Exhibition Refigured Painting. The German Image
1960 – 1988 Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
1990 Trip to India
1991 Move into the studio in Monteventano/Emilia Romagna
1993 First edition of the artist magazine “PlantSÜDEN” self-published, travel to Libya
1994 Establishment of another studio in Oberhausen near Polling
1995 – 1996 Trip to Polynesia
1996 Stay in Salerno; Creation of the first sculptures in terracotta
1996 – 1999 Travels to Arizona, China, Namibia and Egypt
2003 Exhibition Obsessive Malerei, Museum für neue Kunst, Karlsruhe
2003 – 2004 Travels to Russia, Syria, Asia and Iceland
2007 Move to a further studio in Warthe/Uckermark
2010 Trip to China
2011 Exhibition 1/10 Second in front of the Warschauer Brücke, Berlinische Galerie, Journey to Vietnam and Cambodia
2012 Exhibition Zweite Natur, Zentrum für Gegenwartskunst, Augsburg
2013 Trip to Chile
2014 The Museum of Modern Art, Passau shows new woodcuts “Alles Flies” together with pictures on canvas
2015 Exhibition „Gipfeltreffen“ with Ernst Ludwig Kirchner at the Buchheim Museum, Bernried
large survey exhibition “Die 80’er” at The Städel Museum, Frankfurt
2016/17 Trip to India (Varanasi, Bhubaneswar, Tamil Nadu); Exhibition „Geniale Dilletanten“ at Haus der Kunst, Munich/ Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg/ Albertinum, Dresden
2018 Trip to South India (Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka)
2019/20 Intensive work on the realization and implementation of the non-profit STOA169, a hall of columns designed by over a hundred artists from the world
2020 The Museum Fünf Kontinente, Munich opens the exhibition “Tikimania” and shows works by Bernd Zimmer in interaction with objects from the Marquesas Islands.
In September, the 1st construction phase of STOA169 is opened.
2021 The Kunsthalle Jesuitenkirche, Aschaffenburg shows the exhibition “Kristallwelt”.
The 2nd construction phase of STOA169 can be completed and opened in September
Lives and works in Polling (Upper Bavaria) and Monteventano (Italy)