Why Pierce Brosnan Paints: The Emotional Story Behind His Artwork
By: Mickey Semple
When I think of Pierce Brosnan, I see what I believe was the superior embodiment of James Bond. Effortlessly debonair and admittedly handsome, he definitely shone on screen.
After some digging, I was surprised to learn that as a young man, he actually had quite different plans for the future.
Brosnan grew up under modest circumstances and left school at age 16, driven by a burning desire to become an artist. He recalls arriving in South London with “nothing but a cardboard folder of drawings and paintings.” He took a job as a trainee commercial artist at Ravenna Studios in Putney, “drawing straight lines every day, watering spider plants and making cups of tea.” After being cast as the lead for the popular TV series Remington Steele in 1982, he set aside his previous artistic endeavors for a time and focused on his acting career.
Grief Shaped Brosnan’s Relationship with the Canvas
Cancer, 1989, acrylic on canvas.Pain changed Brosnan's art. Although he painted as a youth and early adult, Brosnan’s most significant artistic awakening came in 1987, during the illness of his first wife, Cassandra Harris. Her battle with ovarian cancer, which ended with her passing in 1991, deeply affected him, leading to a renewal of his connection with art. He explains: “It was a time of great introspection and fear of what could happen to a person that I loved… One dark night I got the paints out to try to physically deal with the pain and what was going on in my head and my heart. I thought I was going to put darkness and out came colour. It ended up as ‘One Dark Night.’”
Cassie at Red Tails, 1988, acrylic on canvas.
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 Resurrection, 1994, acrylic on canvas. Brosnan's work from this period is deeply personal and biographical. |
 Keely in Santa Fe, 1990s, acrylic on canvas. 36" x 24" painting based on a photograph of his wife Keely Shaye Brosnan. |
Here the emotional roots of his art emerge: loss, anxiety, the unknown. The canvas became a locus of transformation. Thus, his painting was not a side-hobby—it became a coping mechanism, a channel for emotional regulation and creativity. “Painting has helped me find my way in life. Whenever I feel angst, I’ll go to the canvas. It brings me comfort, and it’s just so joyful.”
Brosnan is self-taught. He modestly states, “I just paint. I’m a self-taught painter.” And yet his work reveals sophisticated compositional sense: bold colour fields, expressive shapes, abstract figurations, landscapes, and portraits. His canvases are characterised by exuberant chromatic interplay—using colour as a powerful emotional device.
The actor paints and draws whenever he can. On every movie he works on, he sets up a studio and paints. He often fills legal pads with sketches during business calls.
So Many Dreams
Image: So Many Dreams, 2010, acrylic on canvas.
His first solo exhibition, So Many Dreams (Los Angeles, 2023) displayed 50 paintings and more than 100 drawings and silkscreen works. Brosnan says the exhibition is “a biography in some respects of the people, places and times of my life” and “a new beginning as well.”
Rene Russo, his co-star from the 1999 flick The Thomas Crown Affair, shared: “There’s so much life and pain and joy in his paintings—it’s very emotional and so moving to see his art. I can feel it in the room. It’s powerful. I came in and burst into tears. He’s been through so much in his life and he’s not bitter. He’s giving and he’s loving. He’s my favorite person in the business.”
While widely known as an actor, Brosnan’s visual art has recently begun to command serious attention. In 2018 his portrait of Bob Dylan sold for about US $1.4 million at the amfAR Cannes 25th annual "Cinema Against AIDS" gala, marking one of his highest-profile sales to date. The proceeds were donated to the charity.
Pierce Brosnan with his painting of Bob Dylan. Photo courtesy of AmFAR.
Mixed Reviews
Although he has received numerous positive reviews, some established art critics are reluctant to embrace his work. Art advisor Lisa Schiff of Schiff Fine Art expressed: “The achievement of commercial success for Brosnan the painter is likely as an extension of his many film accomplishments. I believe there are many art worlds, and there is room for all of them. There are film artists working as visual artists and vice versa. The cult of the personality afforded the former is powerful, and many buyers may want to own a physical manifestation of this in the form of that actor's painting, for example.” - The Hollywood Reporter
The Financial Times had a more favorable opinion: “His output is joyously colourful … with an expressive style exploring the themes of love, loss and renewal.”
In his words: “Art and my family have played a big part and I want to share that really beautiful experience.”
Self-Portrait, 2012, acrylic on canvas.
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