chronology

In fact, when the painter mounted his own retrospective in Paris in 1932, he hung the works not according to chronology but jumbled together.

Set over two decades, "Merrily" charts the demise of a friendship between three artists, and is told in reverse chronology.

Yet the narrative is easy to follow despite the creative chronology, which heightens tension to a near-breaking point.

Lepore follows chronology, flavoring her narrative with graphs, digressions, even a litany of failed amendments.

On a broader level, Bowie constructed a chronology of the early 18th Century, looking at painters such as Joshua Reynolds and William Hogarth, and the creation of the Royal Academy.