1929: Janssen is born on 14 November in Hamburg. He grows up as the only child of Martha Janssen, a seamstress, and is raised by his grandparents in Oldenburg.
1942-1945: Pupil at the National Political Education Institute (Napola) in Haselünne, Emsland.
1945: After the war, he is taken in by his aunt Anna in bombed-out Hamburg.
1946-1951: Studies art under Alfred Mahlau at the Landeskunstschule Hamburg.
1952: Lichtwark Scholarship.
1955: Birth of daughter Katrin, known as Lamme.
1957/58: First successes with colour woodcuts and large-format etchings.
1959: Pioneer, alongside Paul Wunderlich, of New Figuration.
1961: Birth of son Philip.
1968: Honoured for his fine-line drawings with the Graphic Arts Prize at the Venice Biennale.
1969: Friendship with collector Gerhard Schack, printer Hartmut Frielinghaus and Joachim Fest.
1970s: Departure from the avant-garde. Drawings based on nature and the great masters of the past.
1975: Schiller Prize of the City of Mannheim.
1980s: Work as a writer.
1987/1989: Two-volume autobiography is written.
1990: After falling from his balcony, he burns himself with acid and is temporarily blinded by corneal inflammation. Afterwards, he creates light-filled watercolours and sombre landscapes.
1992: Honorary citizen of the city of Oldenburg.
On 31 August 1995, Janssen died in Hamburg as a result of a stroke.
2000: Opening of the Horst Janssen Museum in Oldenburg.
