1944 Born in Campina Grande, Paraíba.
1957-63 Moves to Rio de Janeiro and studies engraving with Oswaldo Goeldi at the Atelier Livre de Gravura, Escola Nacional de Belas Artes.
1965 Participation in the exhibition Opinião 65, at the Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro. Makes his first individual show in Europe, at the Gallery Houston-Brown, in Paris. First prize for painting at Paris Biennial. Receives the prize Young Brazilian Drawing, at Museu de Arte Contemporânea, USP, São Paulo.
1966-68 Lives in Paris. In 1968, he moves to Milan, Italy. Takes part in the exhibition Dialogue Between the East and the West at National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. MoMA, New York, purchases his drawings for their collection.
1971 Participates of the 6th International Exhibition, at the Guggenheim Museum, New York.
1972 Receives the J. Simon Guggenheim Foundation’s Fellowship, New York. First prize at International Exhibition of Original Drawing, in Rijeka.
1977 Travels to India and Nepal, where he deepens his knowledge about techniques of hand-made paper.
1980 Venice Biennale. XVI Bienal de São Paulo.
1984 One-man show at the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, München, called The Invented Country. Takes part in the exhibition An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture, at the MoMA, New York.
1985 One-man show at Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan. Participates in A Generation of Italian Art, Finland.
1986 Participation in the exhibition Prospect 86 at the Kunstverein, Frankfurt.
1988 DAAD Stipendium, Berlin. One-man show at Staatliche Kunsthalle, Berlin, titled Works on Paper.
1989 Moves to Cologne.
1990 Participates in Gegenwart/Ewigkeit, at Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin.
1992 Participates in Bilderweit Brasilien at the Kunsthaus, Zürich, and in Latin American Artists in the Twentieth Century, at Ludwig Museum, Cologne, and at the MoMA, New York. The Museum Ludwig purchases one of his paintings called Caramuru.
1994 One-man show at Ursula Blickle Foundation, Kraichtal. One-man show called Works / Arbeiten 1968-1994, at the Mathildenhöhe Institute, Darmstadt. XXII Bienal de São Paulo.
1996 New Acquisitions, Ludwig Museum, Cologne.
1997 Participates in Re-Aligning Vision: Alternative Currents in South American Drawing, at Museo del Barrio, New York.
1998 XXIV Bienal Internacional de São Paulo. Participates in The Costantini Collection, at MAM, Rio de Janeiro; Poéticas da Cor, Centro Cultural Light, Rio de Janeiro; Moderno e Contemporâneo na Arte Brasileira, Museu de Arte Moderna, São Paulo.
1999 One-man show called Antologia 1965-1999 at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisboa. Participates in Global Conceptualism: Points of Origin, 1950s-1980s, Queens Museum of Art, New York and Walker Art Center, Mineapolis, and in the exhibition Das Vanguardas ao Fim do Milênio, Culturgest, Lisboa.
2000 Participates in MIT List Visual Arts Center, Massachusetts, and at the Miami Art Museum, Miami. The Museum of Contemporary Art, MAC Niterói exhibits Antonio Dias in the João Sattamini Collection. Participates in Heterotopías: Medio Siglo Sin Lugar, 1918-1968, at the Museu Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madri. Participates also in the exhibitions Spanning An Entire Ocean, Culturgest, Lisboa; Mostra do Redescobrimento, São Paulo; Icon+Grid+Void, Americas Society Art Gallery, New York; Arte Conceitual e Conceitualismos: Anos 70, at the Museu de Arte Contemporânea / USP, São Paulo. The exhibition Antonio Dias: The Invented Country, containing a selection of works from the last 30 years, tours a series of Brazilian Institutions, like the MAM, in Salvador, Bahia and Casa Andrade Muricy, Curitiba.
2001 Antonio Dias: The Invented Country follows to the MAM, São Paulo and MAM,  Rio de Janeiro; Museu Vale do Rio Doce, in Vila Velha; ECCO, in Brasília; Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Fortaleza. Participates in the exhibition Experiências / Experiences, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford.
2002 The exhibition Antonio Dias: The Invented Country concludes its cycle at Museu de Arte Moderna Aloísio Magalhães, MAMAM, Recife. One-man show called Múltiplos, at Mercedes Viegas Arte Contemporânea, Rio de Janeiro. Participates in Antonio Dias, Nelson Felix, Celma Albuquerque Galeria de Arte; Lucio Fontana – A Ótica do Invisível at the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo e Brasília; Identidades, MAM, Rio de Janeiro; Paralela – A Contemporary Show Parallel to the XXV Bienal, São Paulo; Atelier Finep, Paço Imperial; and Paralelos, MAM, Rio de Janeiro.
2003 Participates in the exhibitions Approximations of the Pop Spirit 1963-1968, at MAM, São Paulo; and Fronteras-Limites - Bordes/Grenzen, Universidad Arcis / daad, Santiago do Chile.
2004 Participates in Beyond Geometry: Experiments in Form 1940s – 70s, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Inverted Utopias: Avant-Garde Art in Latin America, Museum of Fine Art of Houston; Arte Contemporânea Brasileira nas Coleções do Rio, MAM, Rio de Janeiro; MoMA at El Museo:  Latin American and Caribbean Art from the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art, Museo del Barrio, New York. One-man shows: Antonio Dias, Galeria Silvia Cintra, Rio de Janeiro; e Antonio Dias 2 + 2, at Galeria Artur Fidalgo, Rio de Janeiro.
2005 One-man show called Of Houses, Towers, Clay and Bronze, at Galeria Luisa Strina. Participates in the collective exhibitions Arte em Metrópolis, at the Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo; Artecontemporânea, at Galeria Mercedes Viegas Arte Contemporanea, Rio de Janeiro; O Corpo na Arte Contemporânea, at the Itaú Cultural, Sao Paulo; Múltiplos, Galeria Arte 21, Rio de Janeiro. Takes part in the exhibition Tropicália: A Revolution in Brazilian Culture, that starts touring at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago.
2006 Takes part in the following exhibitions: Dor, Forma e Beleza, Estação Pinacoteca, São Paulo; Entre a Palavra e a Imagem, ECCO - Espaço Cultural Contemporâneo, Brasília; Sites of Sculpture in Modern Brazil, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, UK; and the exhibition A Revolution in Brazilian Culture at the Barbican Center, in London, to be followed by Centro Cultural de Belém,  Portugal, thus to the Bronx Museum, New York.
2007 Presents a series of new works in a one-man show, in Brazil, Salvador, Bahia, in Trabalhos Recentes / Recent Works, Paulo Darzé Galeria de Arte and participates of  collective shows in Switzerland, in Zürich, Face to Face, Part 1, The Daros Collections, a selection of Daros' international and latin-american artists and in Brazil, São Paulo, at MASP, Arte e Ousadia - o Brasil na Coleção Sattamini, among others.