1880
Hermann Rupf was born in Bern.

1884
Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler was born in Mannheim.

1901
Rupf and Kahnweiler met as trainees at a bank in Frankfurt and became “inseparable.”

1903
Rupf and Kahnweiler shared an apartment in Paris and attended cultural events together.

1904
Kahnweiler and Lucie Godon became a couple; their family included Godon’s daughter Louise.

1905
Rupf joined his brother-in-law Ruedi Hossmann’s haberdashery business in Bern, which from 1908 was renamed Hossmann & Rupf.

1907
Kahnweiler opened a small gallery at 28 Rue Vignon in Paris. His exhibition program consisted of avant-garde art. Rupf made his first purchases from Kahnweiler.

1910
Rupf invested 10'000 francs as a limited partner in Kahnweiler’s gallery. He married Margrit Wirz, one of his store’s employees.

1912
Klee visited Kahnweiler in Paris and Rupf in Bern.

1914
When the First World War broke out, Kahnweiler was on a trip to Italy. Rupf invited him to Bern and offered him financial help.
Kahnweiler stayed in Bern until May 1920. His art collection was confiscated by the French state because he was considered an “enemy alien.”

1919
Lucie Godon and Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler were married in Bern. Hermann and Margrit Rupf were witnesses.

1920
On September 1, together with André Simon, Kahnweiler opened Galerie Simon in Paris at 29 Rue d’Astorg.
Rupf bought his friend a house in Paris-Boulogne for 48'000 francs.

1921−1923
Kahnweiler’s collection went to compulsory auction after being confiscated by the French state. A syndicate, which Rupf was a member of, was only able to buy back a small number of works.

From 1929
The art business in general became existentially threatened by the global economic crisis. As a result, Kahnweiler complained repeatedly, and sometimes in great detail, in letters to Rupf about the poor business situation – to the point of considering giving up the gallery (1934).

1933
On January 30 Hitler was appointed German Chancellor. This led to the first waves of arrests of political opponents and large-scale riots against Jews.
The great emigration from Germany began. The gallery owner Alfred Flechtheim and Kahnweiler’s brother Gustav also fled with his wife Elly.

With Rupf acting as intermediary, Kahnweiler began representing Paul Klee.

Rupf helped Kahnweiler to import a large group of paintings from Germany to Switzerland, bringing them to safety.

1935
Paul Klee exhibition at Kunsthalle Bern.

1936
In France, the socialist Front populaire under Léon Blum won a majority in the election. Kahnweiler and Rupf welcomed the change and discussed anti-Semitism in depth in their correspondence.

1937
On May 25 the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne opened in Paris. In the Spanish pavilion, Picasso exhibited the monumental painting Guernica, denouncing the terror attack by German aircraft on the Basque town of Guernica.
Rupf visited the exhibition in September and met Kahnweiler.

On July 19, the propaganda exhibition Entartete „Kunst“ (Degenerate “Art”) opened in Munich, defaming modern art.
Kahnweiler became a French citizen.

1939
Cubism exhibition at Kunsthalle Bern, including numerous loans from Kahnweiler and Rupf.

On June 30 an auction of “degenerate” art took place at the Fischer Gallery in Lucerne. Kahnweiler and Rupf hesitated to take part. Rupf bought Macke’s painting Gartenrestaurant (Garden Restaurant, 1912) and Mataré's sculpture Liegende Kuh (Lying Cow, 1925).

Kahnweiler and Rupf met for the last time before the outbreak of World War II.

On September 1 the German military invaded Poland, beginning World War II.

From then on Kahnweiler wrote his letters in French so as not to make himself once again conspicuous as an “enemy alien.” Rupf likewise replied in French.

1940
On June 14 the German military occupied Paris. A few days earlier, Lucie and Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler had fled to Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat in Limousin. Kahnweiler had already been moving important works of art there for their safety since 1939.

The truce of June 22 divided France into a German-occupied zone and a “free” zone in the south. It was there that Maréchal Pétain established the authoritarian “État français,” which continued to enforce anti-Semitic legislation.

Despite censorship, the correspondence with Rupf was not interrupted until August 1943.

1941
During the summer Galerie Simon became threatened with “Aryanization.” Employing her exceptional negotiating skills, Kahnweiler’s stepdaughter Louise Leiris-Godon was able to save the gallery by having it transferred to her name.

Kahnweiler’s French citizenship was revoked.

Kahnweiler continued to work on his book about Juan Gris but missed Rupf’s critical input.

1942
State measures against Jewish people, including arrests and deportations, also began to greatly increase in France.

1943
At the beginning of September, Kahnweiler narrowly escaped arrest by the Gestapo. He and Lucie went into hiding under a false name in the village of Lagupie in southwest France until September 1944.

Rupf requested that the Red Cross search for Kahnweiler. At the end of 1943 he receives news that he was still alive.

1944
On December 16 Rupf received his first card from Kahnweiler. He had been living in Paris again since its liberation by the Allies in late summer.

1945
On May 8 the war ended in Europe.

On May 15 Lucie Kahnweiler died following a long illness.

The friendship continued. Kahnweiler remained an important promoter of Cubism and dealer in Picasso’s art.

1954
The Hermann and Margrit Rupf Foundation was established.

1961
Margrit Rupf-Wirz died.

1962
Death of Hermann Rupf.

1979
Death of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler.

The Hossmann & Rupf business was liquidated.