It depicts a barren landscape with a number of nude or semi-nude people wearing headgears such as crowns and helmets.

In their 2014 catalogue note, Sotheby's described the painting as "a quintessential example of Nerdrum's large-scale allegories, presenting a sense of the apocalyptic".

[1] It was sold for 25,000 GBP in 2014 through Sotheby's in London, as part of the auction 1000 Ways of Seeing: The Private Collection of the late Stanley J.

[1] Matthew Ballou of Image wrote in 2006: "Lunatics depicts a kind of group meditative state explored in earlier paintings like Twin Mother by the Sea (1999) and Dawn (1990), but takes it in a new direction.

The painting has a tremendous sense of perspective and huge, deep space, in contrast to earlier works that often take place within tight tableaux.