Lumumba in the paintings of Tshibumba

Let us examine this further in three paintings of Tshibumba. One of Lumumba, depicting his speech from 1960[i], one from Lumumba, when he has been killed[ii] and the last painting is of Lumumba, referring to him becoming a national hero during the regime of Mobutu[iii], the period in which Tshibumba made his paintings.


The Speech of Lumumba

In the painting we can see Lumumba standing on a stage with the Belgian king behind him to the right smiling. Lumumba on the other hand has a very serious face and appears to be talking to the crowd on the left of the painting. He points his right index finger to the sky as he holds a blue globe in his other hand. What is striking that the depiction of Lumumba holding a globe seems to portray a more Pan-African image of Lumumba. Lumumba showing the world and the continent of Africa as the independence of Africa, could perhaps be interpreted by that.

The context of this painting is the historical speech, given by Lumumba in January 1960 during the ceremonial gathering for the independence to Congo.[iv] This speech was as said, regarded as both historical in his value but also highly dangerous and unwise.[v]

(source: Tropenmuseum,



The Death of Lumumba.

We can see Lumumba in the clothes, familiar to the pictures, dressed in a white shirt and the pants of his suit, he is lying dead on the ground, with on the background to other bodies. Probably those of Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito. From a large wound on the right side of Lumumba the word unite (or unité) is formed in blood.

Although creating the familiar image we know from the photos and video images of his arrest, it creates a picture, that we do not know, because there is not a photograph of Lumumba murdered. Tshibumba, with this painting then fills a mystery gap in the history of the final moments of Lumumba, while staying true to the images we do have of him.

Nooter Roberts and Roberts say about this picture that the light on the forehead of Lumumba, which forms a cross, is again derived from an interpretation of a photograph of Lumumba with the light probably caused by the flash of a camera. This cross is according to them, then extended in to the three symbolic crosses on the right-side of the painting.[vi]

(source: Tropenmuseum,



Lumumba as a national hero

This is a more complex painting, in the sense that we need to see the history behind it, before a description of the painting can be understood. With the death of Lumumba, he was completely removed from the history of Lumumba. In 1966 however, Lumumba was restored by Mobutu as a national hero. This is described by the historian Leo Zeilig[vii] How did Lumumba became from being an enemy of Mobutu, who watches with over the cruel and violent arrest of Lumumba, to a national hero? For this we can go back to the concept of using heroes. The original hero Lumumba, with his own actions in his live would not have been suitable, but the second hero entity Lumumba as a symbol and a legend could be used by Mobutu.

In the painting we can see the image again, as also photographed of Lumumba with just white shirt and trousers, and his arms tightened with rope. He walks in front of a house. This is, according to the owner of the painting, the Tropenmuseum, the same house where he was killed, owned by the Belgian person that killed him.[viii] With a person at the left window, also Lumumba, surrounded by the words ‘Le pays exige les martyrs: je me present’, which translates to: The country requires martyrs: I offer myself.

(source: Tropenmuseum,


Lumumba in the painting of Sapin

In the painting of Sapin, Lumumba is depicted in both the classic picture, which would be the last known photograph taken of him.[ix] Kneeled, bound and threatened by soldiers. In the other picture, we see a graphic death of Lumumba that is not taken from a photograph or even the way in which Lumumba supposedly died, but nonetheless very symbolic. Lumumba, strangled in a noose of the flags that opposed him, he is left lifelessly. Defeated. However, through these two depictions, both of which show a same image of a victimized Lumumba, can be understood as more than just a depiction of wrongdoing. For the picture in which Lumumba passively acts as a prisoner, the symbolism of the young independent state that curses its own freedom from colonialism can be recognized. This becomes clearer when we look at the other picture of Lumumba again. He is painted by Sapin, himself in the picture and shown to the people of Congo.[x] In the first picture we can again see the symbolic three crosses.

Want to read further?

Lumumba: Reflection

Also read:

Presenting Patrice Lumumba: an Introduction

Lumumba the Political-Actor

Active memory and Lumumba

Lumumba as a symbol for Pan-Africanism (Pan-Africanism, Lumumba)


Lumumba: Bibliography

[i] Tshibumba Kanda-Matulu, painting of a speech of Lumumba, retrieved from

[ii] Tshibumba Kanda-Matulu, painting of the death Lumumba, retrieved from

[iii] Tshibumba Kanda-Matulu, painting of Lumumba becoming a national hero, retrieved from

[iv] Watch the speech of the Belgian King and Lumumba here:

[v] Edouard Bustin (2002), ‘Remembrance of Sins past: Unraveling the Murder of Patrice Lumumba’, Review of African Political Economy 29.93/94, 537-560.

[vi] Nooter Roberts and Roberts (1996), ‘Anticipation and Longing’ 92 and 102.

[vii] Leo Zeilig (2008), Patrice Lumumba: Africa’s lost leader, London.


[ix] Makengele, S., ‘The Congo Crisis’, collaborative visual work of Sapin Makengele and students surrounding the events that transpired between 1960 and 1965.

[x] Following the explanation of Sapin himself, the faces in the map of Lumumba, do not represent specific historical figures, but the people in Congo, young or old, woman or man.