Portrait of the Artist Gerhard Munthe

The painting depicts a smoky interior, the poorly lit Grand Caf�, with its gentlemen reading the papers and smoking cigars. In the foreground is an uncleared, deserted table. The subject has just come in from the street. He is clearly a dandy, wearing a dark coat with a voluptuous fur collar and sporting a moustache and eyeglasses. In his gloved right hand he holds a burning cigarette, the swirl of smoke drifting into the bluish haze of the room.

The seemingly Parisian scene is set in Christiania (later Oslo) in Norway.