From childhood, Mykola Rokytskyi was drawn to the visual arts, painting the mountainous and meadow landscapes of his native region. In 1912, the young artist enrolled in the Volodymyr-Volynskyi Gymnasium (now Volodymyr). After completing his studies in 1914, he continued his professional education at the Kyiv Art Institute (1920–1927) under the guidance of Mykhailo Boichuk. It was at the Institute that Rokytskyi developed his aspiration to combine folk traditions with innovative modernist forms. In 1927, the artist became a member of the Association of Revolutionary Art of Ukraine.

A prominent figure in the Boichukist circle, Rokytskyi integrated authentic Ukrainian ornamentation with modernist compositional principles in his works. From the early 1930s, he worked within the framework of official Socialist Realism, gradually adapting after the repression of the Boichukists, executing commissions for the Art Fund while maintaining his distinctive coloristic style.

Rokytskyi regularly participated in republican exhibitions, presenting both easel paintings and monumental murals.

Among his notable works are his first known easel painting Apple Trees (1925), which combined folk motifs with planar spatial construction; the fresco Change for the assembly hall of the Art Institute in Kyiv (1927); murals in the Peasant Sanatorium named after the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee in Odesa (co-authored with Oleksandr Myzyn, 1928); the series Blast Furnace Workshop, dedicated to industrialization (1929); and emotionally charged paintings Defense of Luhansk (1932) and Funeral of a Comrade-in-Arms (1935), featuring symbolic scenarios and deep emotional resonance. He also produced sketches and cartoons for tapestries intended as part of monumental-decorative environments (1930s).

Rokytskyi’s life was cut short at the height of his creative powers. He died in 1944 from complications of a severe illness exacerbated by the Nazi occupation and the battles for the liberation of Kyiv. Yet his frescoes, monumental murals, and easel paintings remain a significant milestone in 20th-century Ukrainian art.