Zvirynskyi began his artistic education in 1942 at the Lviv School of Applied Arts (graphics department), studying under Mykola Butovych, Volodymyr Balias, and Antin Maliutsa. During the German occupation, he continued studying at the Free Ukrainian Academy, and from 1945 at the Lviv Art School named after Ivan Trush (with Roman Selskyi). In 1947, he entered the Lviv Institute of Decorative and Applied Arts, but in 1950 was expelled “for formalist tendencies”. Later, he managed to return and completed his studies in 1953 under Yosyp Bokshai.

After graduation in 1953, Zvirynskyi taught painting and composition at the Lviv School of Applied Arts named after Ivan Trush, and from 1959 at the Lviv Institute of Decorative and Applied Arts. Despite political pressure, his lessons were marked by professional culture and the courage of formal experimentation.

In the 1950s–60s, Zvirynskyi moved away from socialist realism, searching for new expressive means. At first these were vibrant Аppliqués, later tactile Reliefs (1957–1960) made of wood, metal, plaster, and fabric. Already in the series Epitaphs (1960–1965) and Entwinements (1970–1992) he created original semiotic forms — peculiar “still lifes” of the artist’s inner world. These works bring him closer to major phenomena of Western European modernism, although he never had direct access to Western art centers.

In 1959, in his own apartment, Zvirynskyi founded an underground school for young artists, later called Zvirynskyi’s Underground Academy. Here, along with painting and composition, students studied world art history, literature, and philosophy. Among his pupils were Andrii Bokotei, Ivan Marchuk, Petro Hrytsyk, Oleh Min’ko, Roman Petruk, and others — who later shaped the Lviv school of painting and took on leading avant-garde roles in the USSR.

More than 75% of his artistic legacy consists of church polychromes and iconostases. For the Dormition Church in Lviv (Uspenska Church) he painted over 30 icons, and he decorated the walls of churches in Lanivtsi and elsewhere. At the same time, in his sacred painting Zvirynskyi strictly adhered to the canons of ancient Byzantine iconography, bringing into it only a subtle sense of color and his own refined craftsmanship.

His heritage is distinguished by asceticism of palette, monumentality of composition, and profound spiritual subtext — true “painterly psalm-chants” uniting experimental modernism with folk tradition and Christian mysticism. Karlo Zvirynskyi is a figure without whom it is difficult to imagine the development of Ukrainian modernism in the 20th century. His artistic and pedagogical legacy continues to inspire new generations of artists and researchers.

Among his most important series and cycles are: Appliqués (1956–1967), Reliefs (1957–1960), Entwinements (1970–1992), From the Life of the Forest (1970–1995), The Beyond (1980–1994), Epitaphs (1960–1965), Trifles (1980–1995), and Copper, Crimson, Silver (1995) — each testifying to the artist’s pursuit of “pure form” and inner harmony of space and color.
During his lifetime, the artist never had a solo exhibition. Only in 1995, at the age of 73, he held a retrospective at the National Museum in Lviv (58 works). His art eventually received due recognition in independent Ukraine — in 1997 Zvirynskyi was awarded the title of Honored Artist of Ukraine.