Just like Breitner and Israels, Koppelaar sometimes visits a café during his painting trips. A painter is always working, watching, observing and suddenly sees from what angle he has to paint something or someone. In Café "De Eland" on the corner of the Elandsgracht it were the huge lamps above the reading table pouring a warm golden light over the newspaper reading man, that apparently attracted him as a motif. The man's coat is thrown over a chair, the light refelects off the mans hair and off the ceiling. On the left and in the background are vaguely some visitors present and the bartender who pours a beer. The entire staging is, however, kept in a few basic colors: yellow, brown, white and a single wisp of red. The emphasis on the translucent lampshades proves once more Koppelaar's fascination with light.