• 1920: Born in Barcelona, Spain.
  • 1939-1940: Enters the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
  • 1940-1944: Takes up residence Barcelona. Studies for four days at La Llotja, a Catalan art school attached to the San Fernando Academy in Madrid.
  • 1944: Travels and settles in Bogota. Participates for the first time in the V National Artists' Salon in Colombia. Teaches at the School of Fine Arts in Bogotá.
  • 1945: First individual exhibition at Colombia's National Library in Bogota.
  • 1946: Settles in Barranquilla and becomes a teacher in a local school. Wins first prize at the Coastal Artists' Salon.
  • 1948-1949: Becomes director of the School of Fine Arts in Bogotá.
  • 1949: participates in the exhibition 32 Artists of the Americas (32 Artistas de las Américas) at Colombia's National Museum in Bogotá.
  • 1949-1954: Takes up residence in France. Exhibits at Galerie Greuse, Paris, and at the Pan American Union in Washington.
  • 1955: Returns to Colombia. Obtains the second prize in the National Artists' Salon, held in the Art Center of Barranquilla, with the oil painting Gato comido de pájaros (Cat Eaten by Birds), 1954.
  • 1956: His work Ganado ahogándose en el Magdalena (Cattle Drowning in the Magdalena), 1955 is awarded at the Caribbean Exhibition in Houston.
  • 1957: Shares the second prize in painting at the X National Artists' in Colombia with Fernando Botero and Jorge Elías Triana for the oil painting Luto por un estudiante muerto (Mourning a Dead Student), 1956.
  • 1958: Obtains first prize in the Hispanic-American Biennial in Madrid.
    • 1958: Produces the ceramic mosaic work Tierra, agua y aire (Earth, Water, and Air) for the Misrachi building in Barranquilla.
  • 1959: Takes first place at the Barranquilla Annual Salon. Produces the mural Alegoría del libro (Allegory of the Book), 1959, for the Luis Angel Arango Library in Bogota. Represents Colombia at the V São Paulo Bienal along with Enrique Grau, Fernando Botero, Eduardo Ramírez Villamizar, Armando Villegas, and Guillermo Wiedemann, receiving an Honorable Mention.
  • 1960: Exhibits in the Guggenheim Hall in New York.
  • 1962: Takes the National Prize for Painting at the XV National Artists' Salon in Colombia with the work La Violencia (Violence, 1962).
  • 1966: Obtains the National Prize for Painting at the National Artists' Salon in Colombia for the second time.
  • 1967: Becomes director of the Museum of Modern Art in Bogotá. Represents Colombia at the São Paulo Biennial.
  • 1969: Participates in the film Queimada by director Gillo Pontecorvo.
  • 1970: Decorated with the Order of San Carlos by the President of Colombia, Misael Pastrana.
  • 1971: Paints Cóndor (Condor) for the Council of Minister’s Sessions Hall, Bogotá.
  • 1973: Paints the mural Sombra larga y música de días (Long Shadow and Daytime Music) in homage to the poet José Asunción Silva for the Bank of Colombia in the San Martín Square in Bogotá.
  • 1977: Exhibits in Colombian La Plástica Colombiana en el siglo XX (Visual Arts in the Twentieth Century) at Casa de las Americas in Havana, Cuba.
  • 1982: Produces the mural Galerna (The Gale) for the Cartagena Convention Center.
  • 1983: Produces the mural Amanecer en los Andes (Dawn Over the Andes) for the United Nations headquarters in New York.
  • 1985: Presents Obregón, Pintor Colombiano (Obregón: Colombian Painter) at Maison de l’Amérique Latine in Paris. Exhibits in Cinco Artistas Colombianos (Five Colombian Artists) at the Museum of Latin American Art (OEA) in Washington.
  • 1986: Produces the mural Victoria de tres cordilleras (Victory of Three Cordilleras) at the Elliptic Hall of the National Capitol in Bogotá. Exhibits Desastre en la Ciénaga (Disaster at Ciénaga) in the Bogotá Museum of Modern Art.
  • 1990: Exhibits his series Vientos (Winds) at El Museo gallery in Bogotá. Exhibits at the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum in Japan. Presents Cinco Décadas (Five Decades) at the Bogotá Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition later travels to the Monterrey Museum and the Mexico Museum of Modern Art.
  • 1991: Retrospective exhibition at the Consolidated Cultural Center of Caracas.
  • 1992: Dies in Cartagena and is buried in the Obregón family mausoleum in the Universal Cemetery of Barranquilla.