Her early portraits from 1877 of her sister, the author Anna Munch, and of Munch with her two small siblings are typical of Dahl's dreamy depiction of her subjects. She exhibited from the early 1880s at the Oslo Kunstforening, becoming a frequent exhibitor at the autumn shows. Among her finest works are those of women and children in the 1880s, including "Dame i ridedrakt" (Woman in Riding Attire, 1884) and a portrait of the opera singer Eva Sars (1886). In 1888, a work inspired by Henrik Ibsen's "Brand" which was selected for the Nordic Exhibition in Copenhagen was considered too sentimental by one of the critics.