In the early twentieth century, O'Conor was one of a group of painters, writers and intellectuals who frequented the
Chat Blanc, a restaurant in the rue d'Odessa near the Gare Montparnasse in Paris, a group that included
Gerald Kelly,
Aleister Crowley and the young
Somerset Maugham. O'Conor "took an immediate dislike to Maugham, who later recalled that his presence at the table seemed to irritate the Irishman and he had only to venture a remark to have O'Conor attack it." Maugham had his revenge on O'Conor by using him as the basis for two fictional characters, O'Brien in
The Magician and Clutton in
Of Human Bondage. Both portraits are unflattering: O'Brien is "a failure whose bitterness has warped his soul so that, unforgiving of the success of others, he lashes out at any artist of talent", while Clutton is "a sardonic painter who is most cheerful when he can find a victim for his sarcasm". However, it was through O'Conor that Maugham first became interested in
Gauguin (Maugham travelled to Tahiti and based his novel
The Moon and Sixpence on the life of Gauguin). ==Personal life and legacy==