Around the turn of the millennium, Ola Billgren executed several motifs from restaurants and cafés, still lifes with table settings, as well as interiors, both as paintings and graphic works. He found inspiration during his travels to Paris and Venice. "Restauranginteriör, Paris" was created during Billgren's last years, the same year he exhibited three paintings at the art fair in Basel. The painting is an example of Billgren's renowned painting technique, where he first creates a realistic motif and then goes over it with a razor blade, selectively blurring the image and leaving behind an almost abstract final result. The technique required that the image be started and completed in a single session, and he considered it virtually impossible to retouch later. It was thus a very demanding process that stemmed from the photographs Billgren himself took during his travels. The paintings featuring motifs from countries such as France, Italy, and Spain testify to how he valued travel and the significance of the impressions Ola Billgren brought back to Sweden.

The sober grey tones in "Restauranginteriör, Paris" can also be found in his earlier work "Café Window, Venice" and the paintings in the series "Pompeian Interior." All executed during the late 1990s, a period when Billgren's palette seems to oscillate between two poles - the calm grey colour and the sharp crimson shades. Behind the veiling layers of colour often lie intimate everyday motifs or romantic undertones. In the auction's painting, we discern a typical French waiter making his way between the restaurant tables, one of the many snapshots that lingered with Billgren and that form the narrative of his life and artistry.