28 Nov 1898
Lotte Laserstein is born in Preussisch-Holland, a small town in Eastern Prussia (now Pełsak in Poland), the first daughter of Hugo Laserstein, a prosperous pharmacist, and his wife Meta, née Birnbaum.

1902
Death of her father. The family moves to Danzig. Meta Laserstein and her two daughters Lotte and Käte (1900-1965) share a household with Meta’s mother Ida Birnbaum and sister Elsa Birnbaum.

from
First art lessons in Elsa Birnbaum’s private school of painting.

1912
The family moves to Berlin.

1918
Lotte Laserstein matriculates at Friedrich Wilhelm University, Berlin, to study Philosophy and History of Art; she also attends a school of applied printing.

1920‑1921
Private art training with Leo von König.

1921‑1927
Lotte studies at the Akademische Hochschule für bildende Künste [Academic College of Fine Arts] (from 1924 Vereinigte Staatsschulen für freie und angewandte Kunst [United State Schools of Liberal and Applied Art]) in Berlin under Erich Wolfsfeld, from 1925 to 1927 in his master class.

1922‑1924
The family lose much of their wealth during the inflation years. To finance her studies, Lotte takes temporary jobs as an illustrator and industrial designer.

1925
Lotte receives the Ministermedaille for particular artistic achievement from the Prussian Ministry of Science, Art and Education. Meets her model Traute Rose

1927
First studio of her own at 33a, Friedrichsruher Strasse in the Berlin borough of Wilmersdorf, where she also runs a private school of painting.

1928‑1931
Lotte Laserstein participates in 22 exhibitions and performs well in various competitions.

1928
The Berlin city administration purchases her painting In the Tavern.

1929
Lotte Laserstein joins the Association of Berlin Women Artists, serving at times on the executive committee and the jury.

1930
Move to 15, Nachodstrasse in Wilmersdorf.
Laserstein’s style changes around this time, exchanging flat surfaces with strong contours for a looser, airier brush.

1931
Personal exhibition at Galerie Gurlitt.

1931–1935
Lengthy summer trips to the country with her pupils.

from 1933
As a Jew Laserstein is no longer able to exhibit. She is discharged from the executive committee of the Association of Berlin Women Artists.

1935
As she is not a member of the Reichskulturkammer, she can only buy paint and materials through friends. Her private teaching studio is closed. Works as an art teacher at the private Jewish school run by Helene Zickel. Moves to 3, Jenaer Strasse Exhibitions through the Jüdischen Kulturbund [Jewish Cultural Association].

1937
Emigration to Sweden.
Successful December exhibition at the Galerie Moderne in Stockholm, followed by numerous portrait commissions.

1938
To obtain Swedish citizenship, Lotte Laserstein marries Sven Marcus pro forma, but never lives with him. She makes fruitless efforts to help her mother, her sister Käte and Käte’s companion to leave Germany.

1943
Meta Laserstein dies in Ravensbrück concentration camp; Käte escapes persecution by going into hiding, surviving the war in Berlin.

from 1946
Difficult years professionally and personally.
Contact resumes with her friend Traute Rose and Traute’s husband Ernst in Germany.

1952
Purchase of a summer home on the island of Öland.

1954
Hoping for better professional opportunities, Lotte moves from Stockholm to Kalmar in the southern province of Småland. In the late fifties and the sixties, lengthy trips to France, Italy, Spain and visits to Switzerland and the United States.

1963
Lotte Laserstein joins Konstnärernas Riksorganisation, the Swedish association of fine artists.

1977
Awarded Kalmar’s Culture Prize.

1987
Exhibition at Agnew's and the Belgrave Gallery, London, heralding Lotte Laserstein’s international rediscovery.

1990
Another exhibition at Agnew's, London. Her works are shown along with those of her teacher Erich Wolfsfeld and her pupil Gottfried Meyer.

21 Jan 1993
Lotte Laserstein dies in Kalmar aged 94.

2003
DAS VERBORGENE MUSEUM
shows from 7 November 2003 to 1 February 2004
in the Museum Ephraim Palais, Berlin, the exhibition
“Lotte Laserstein – My Only Reality“

Exhibition
Exhibition: Women Artists in Dialogue