[1] It shows the chef and owner of a restaurant and hotel Paul Antoine Graff, who was the landlord of Monet during his visit to Pourville on the English Channel.

In the lower part of the painting, the figure fades into the light grey background, resulting in an oval shaped composition.

[2] His scrubby grey and black full beard is part of his appearance and nearly covers the protruding chin and the mouth with closed lips.

The furrowed face was painted by Monet with strong strokes of his paintbrush, and the nose was emphasised by a more pronounced shade of the same colours.

He described Père Paul as an excellent chef and was pleased with his accommodation: "The landscape is very beautiful … one couldn't be nearer to the sea, as I am now, directly on the beach, the waves reach up to the basement of our house.

The painting La Mère Paul (Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts) shows Madame Graff in dark clothes joined by her loyal terrier Follette.

Melissa MacQuillan noted in the Graff portrait and in the painting of Poly a nearly physiognomic exaggeration, which reminds one of his early works as a caricaturist in his youth.