1913            21 January: Birth of Carl Eugene Matson in Saint Paul, Minnesota

1914-18        First World War

1919            Young Carl was inspired watching his father carve wood figurines

1928-31       High school years

1929-39      The Great Depression

1931             Matson traveled on freight trains across the Midwest

1933            Matson returned to Saint Paul, Minnesota

1938            Completion of a watercolor, titled “God Bless Our Home”

1939            Spring: Introduced to twenty-two year old Helen Mary Skepper

1940            13 January: Carl and Helen married

1940            20 September: Daughter Tamara Mary is born

1940            December: Matson works at Fort Pepperrell in Newfoundland

1941             7 December: Beginning of WWII

1942            2 February: Matson returned from Newfoundland

1942            20 December: Son Karl Francis is born

1944-48       Experimented with sculpting using blocks of soap

1945            25 May: Daughter Carol Lee Theresa is born

1945            2 September: End of WWII

1946-48       Frequents the Minneapolis Institute of Art with daughter

1947            Completion of pencil sketch of nude woman with pedigree dogs

1947-49       Identified with the Communist Labor Party in the USA

1948-51        Period of marital disharmony for Carl and Helen

1949             Presented an abstract soap sculpture to a female marriage counselor

1949             17 May: Son Gary Michael is born

1949             July: Helen goes to work evenings at a popular dinner club

1950             Matson hired on as a coach cleaner for the Great Northern Railroad

1951              July: Carl and Helen separated after 11 years of marriage

1951              September: Helen and the four children moved into the projects

1951              November: Carl returned to his boyhood home

1951              Divorce granted

1951              Winter: Daughter Carol Lee comes down with rheumatic fever

1953             Most productive and creative period begins

1953             Completion of “Children’s Christ”

1953             Completion of “Self Portrait”

1953             Completion of “Words of Strife Heard I, Huger than Any”

1953             Completion of study for “Circus Rider”    

1953             Sketched image of mare trampling wildcat on an Ajax water cup

1953             Completion of study for “Mare Trampling Wildcat” for son Karl

1954             Completion of study for “Beneath a Sky of Brass”

1954             Completion of “Have You Written Home to Mother”

1954             February: Completion of “Cursed Be the Day of My Nativity” 

1954             15 March: Completion of "My Book"— a portrait of the artist's children

1954             Completion of “Ann”

1954             Completion of “Clown on Horse”

1954             Completion of “Hotel Bar Dancer”

1954             Completion of “Young Girl on a Bus” 

1955             Completion of “Beneath a Sky of Brass”

1955             Completion of “The Drunkard”

1955             Completion of “Young Mother”

1955             Completion of “Colt”

1955             Completion of “Portrait of M”

1955             Completion of “The Day the Sky Fell”

1956             Completion of “Mask of an Old Man” 

1956             Completion of “Lady By a Glittering Sea”

1956             Completion of “Circus Study”

1956             Completion of “Bull Durham and the Prostitute”

1956             Completion of “Circus” inspired by trips to the circus with the children

1956             Completion of “Plane Beneath the Sea” after loss of a plane in the ocean

1956             Completion of “The Good Thief on the Cross”

1956             Completion of “Death of the Good Thief”

1956             Completion of “The Day the Clowns Came to Gillette Hospital” 

1956             Completion of “Mare Trampling Wildcat”

1956             Completion of “Saint Anthony I”

1956             Completion of “Yesterday is Now”

1956             Completion of “The Bombing of Hiroshima”

1957              Completion of “I Walk Thru the City”

1957              Completion of “From the Land of the 2nd 1st Time”

1957              Completion of “Boy Wonder Saves Runaway Horse Saves Homely Girl”

1959              Summer: Completion of “The Man Who Choose Murder”

1959              January: Daughter Carol Lee suffers a reoccurrence of rheumatic fever

1959              February: Completion of “Spring of 1959”—sketch of angel and Carol Lee

1959              March: Karl, age 17, began a series of visits to his father’s studio

1959              29 April: Artist’s first grandchild Kim Marie is born

1959              Completion of “Portrait”

1960              Completion of “Small Bird”

1960              Completion of “Night Visitor”

1960              Completion of “Grandfather and Granddaughter with Doll” 

1960              Completion of “Birthday in the Garden”  

1960              19 April: Death of daughter Carol Lee at age 14

1960              August 26: Karl enlists in U.S. Army and becomes an artist illustrator

1961               17 May: Helen is hospitalized for severe depression

1961               Winter: Completion of “Nativity”

1962               Matson shares an abstract image from his sketch pad with a co-worker

1963               August 23: Karl is honorably discharged from the service

1963               September: Helen's health improved and she is discharged

1964               October: The artist moved into his former wife’s apartment

1964—            Matson is inspired by the music of Mahalia Jackson and Joan Baez      

1965               June: The artist nearly drowned when his fishing canoe overturned

1966-69          Carl faithfully visited Helen at a half-way house

1968                25 May: Artist's son visited his mother before leaving for Vietnam

1968                26 June: Completion of  “Rich Lady on a Horse” 

1968                Completion of “The Hearer’s”

1969                February: Matson provides a private art showing to a young woman

1969                March: The artist’s son captures wartime photography

1969                17 May: Helen, age 52, dies in her sleep on her son’s birthday

1972                 Completion of  “Girl in the Attic” inspired by son's love affair

1973                 January: Carl is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer

1973                 September: Completion of final piece, a colorful abstract cross

1973                 October: Artist to artist, Carl passed his body of work to Karl

1974                 February: The artist’s boyhood home and studio space is demolished

1974                 23 April: The artist entered hospice care

1974                 26 April: The artist died.