On completing his studies in 1947, he refused compulsory military participation, as he disagreed with the Netherlands' political actions in Indonesia, and fled the country aboard a Swedish oil tanker that would take him to Venezuela.

He then decided to abandon a life of business and moved to the island of Grenada, where he dedicated himself completely to painting and began to assert his style in sculpting.

In 1964, he worked as a smelting apprentice to the sculptor Pieter Starreveld before returning definitively to Caracas, contracted by Central University of Venezuela as a professor of design.

In the following years, he carried out various independent showings in Venezuela, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United States, Japan and other countries, earning various national and international awards.

[4] In his sculptures, Zitman strove to reproduce and exaggerate the morphology of the indigenous peoples of Venezuela, particularly the female figure.