1935
Born in Tokyo
1958
Graduate in Painting, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music (BFA)
1962
Carried out Happenings on the Yamanote line train with Jiro Takamatsu and Hiroshi Kawani
1963
Exhibited in the 15th Yomiuri Indépendent Exhibition Formed Hi Red Center with Jiro Takamatsu and Genpei Akasegawa
1965
Started collaborating with Butoh dancers, Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ono
1968
Involved in the establishment of Bigakko Art School
1969
Opened “Nakanishi Atelier” at Bigakko Art School
1972
Workshop at Bigakko Art School with the theme "On the 'Shape of Painting' through the Vessel of Sleep or Bridge"
1996
Professor of Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Oil Painting course (-2003)
2004
Professor of Kurashiki University of Science and Arts (-2007)

Selected Solo Exhibitions
1967
“Nakanishi Natsuyuki,” Minami Gallery (also ’73, ’76), Tokyo (cat.)
1980
“Nakanishi Natsuyuki arc・ellipse,” Gatodo Gallery / Shigeru Yokota Gallery ( '81, '83, '90, '94, '97, '99), Tokyo (cat.)
1984
“Painiting of May,”　Nishimura Gallery ( '86, '88, '90, '92, '95),Tokyo (cat.)
1985
“Natsuyuki Nakanishi, Painting 1980-85,” Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, Kitakyusyu, Japan (cat.)
1989
“Natsuyuki Nakanishi,”The Seibu Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art / Seibu Takanawa, karuizawa (cat.)
1995
“Natsuyuki Nakanishi, Hopscotch at the Summit, Drawings 1969-1972,” Aichi Prefectural Museum Art, Nagoya, Japan (cat.)
“Touching Down on Land and Touching Down on Water,” The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura, Japan (cat.)
1997
“Natsuyuki Nakanishi Toward Whiteness, Intensity, Presence,” The Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (cat.)
2002
“Natsuyuki Nakanishi,” Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art / The Museum of Art, Ehime, Japan (cat.)
2003
“Two Places - From the Picture Field to the Picture Impulse,” The University Art Museum, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Tokyo
2004
“Halation: the moon close behind, sounds ahead”, SCAI THE BATHHOUSE, Tokyo
"QUARTET - Touching Down on Land and Touching Down on Water X", Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art, Sakura
2007
"Distant Canvas, Close Painting: An Experiment of Membrane Receiving Images through the "Expansion and Diffusion" of a Drawing," Kake Museum, Kurashiki
2008
"New Works, Chain of Painting, Forest of Light," Shoto Museum of Art, Tokyo
2009
"Behind, Circle", SCAI THE BATHHOUSE, Tokyo

Selected Group Exhibitions
1961
“Adventure in Today's Art of Japan,” The National Museum of Art, Tokyo (cat.)
1965-67
“The New Japanese Painting and Sculpture,” San Francisco Museum of Art/Denver　Art Museum, Denver / Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois / Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha / Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts/The Museum of Modern Art, New York / Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore / Milwaukee Art Center, Wisconsin (cat.)
1974
“Japan: Traditional und Gebenwart,” Stadtische / Kunsthalle Dusseldorf
“Japan pa Louisiana,” Museum of Modern Art, Louisiana, Denmark / Goteborgs Konstmuseum, Goteborgs, Sweden / Henie Onstad Art Centre, HØvikodden, Norway (cat.)
1981
“The 1960s: A Decade of Change in Contemporary Japanese Art”, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo / The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (cat.)
1983
“Fünf zeitgenössische Künstler aus Japan,” Stadrische Kunsthalle, Dusseldorf, Germany (cat.)
1985
“Reconstructions: Avant-Guarde Art in Japan 1945-1965,” Museum of Modern Art, Oxford/Fruit Market, Edinburgh, UK (cat.)
1986
“Japon des avant-gardes 1910-1970,” Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
1994-95
“Japanese Art After 1945: Scream against the Sky“, Yokohama Museum of Art / Guggenheim Soho, New York / San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (cat.)
2004
“Roppongi Crossing - New Visions in Contemporary Art in 2004”, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (cat.)
2008
"Yokohama Triennale 2008 Time Crevassse," NYK Waterfront Warehouse (BankART Studio NYK), Kanagawa
"War & Art - Terror and Simulacrum of Beauty -," Galerie Aube, Kyoto University of Art and design, Kyoto

Selected Commissioned Works
1997-98
Stage design for the opera "Three Sisters," (Music: Peter Eötvös / Director: Ushio Amagatsu), Opera, Lyon, France
1998
“Touching Down on Land and Touching Down on Water I, II, III, IV” VR Techno Center (Design: Richard Rogers), Gifu
2002
“Four Moons for Shiodome” Head office of Dentsu (Architectural Design: Jan Nouvel), Tokyo
2008
Stage design for the opera "LADY SARASHINA," (Music: Peter Eötvös / Director: Ushio Amagatsu), Opera, Lyon, France