In 1957, he was appointed head of the painting studio of the Donetsk branch of the Union of Artists of Ukraine, and he held a position until 1967. During this period (1957–1967), under Lymariev’s leadership and with his active personal involvement, a series of decorative mosaics was created for the children’s cinema and the Young Pioneer camp Moloda Hvardiya in Odesa.
In 1968, Anatolii Lymariev, together with Alla Horska, Viktor Zaretskyi, and other artists, created the mosaic Banner of Victory for the Moloda Hvardiya Museum in Krasnodon (now Sorokyne).
Lymariev worked in the genres of landscape, portrait, and still life. Among his most notable works are: My Village (1960), Mower (1970), Poplar (1971), Taras Shevchenko in Exile (1982), and Valia (1985).
From 1957 onward, Lymariev actively participated in exhibitions, including the All-Union Art Exhibition in Moscow, republican and international exhibitions (notably in Cuba), and the Exhibition of Nine at the Republican House of Artists in Kyiv (1985). Posthumous solo retrospectives were held in 1988 and 2012.
Lymariev’s paintings and mosaics are held in the National Art Museum of Ukraine, the Directorate of Art Exhibitions of the Union of Artists, and private collections in Ukraine, Russia, and Europe. His work synthesizes the traditions of the Sixtiers and Soviet monumentalism, combining social themes with classical painting.