HE IS best known for his big-screen productions, but Pierce Brosnan’s secret passion is painting. Now the former James Bond actor is selling his artwork to raise money for his favourite charities.

Most of Brosnan’s works were designed as presents for his wife, Keely Shaye Smith, on Valentine’s Day or at Christmas. But the Meath-born actor is selling a limited edition of prints to fans through his official website.

The romantically titled Bisou Moi (Kiss Me) was given to his wife as a present on Valentine’s Day two years ago and shows a naked woman standing next to a plant. Brosnan is offering 999 signed prints at €750 each. The original was painted at Pinewood studios during the making of his last Bond movie.

The actor, who began his career as a commercial artist, has painted landscapes of his favourite places in the world as well as colourful portraits of his family. Copies of Fiji, which was painted for his wife for Christmas 1995, is being sold for a little more than €1,500. The father of five has drawn portraits of Charlotte, his daughter, and of Christopher and Sean, his sons.

His young son Dylan is listed as a co-artist in a painting called The Gift. After he left school, Brosnan pursued a career in art and got a job as an illustrator for Harrods department store. A colleague suggested that he join a theatre club, and he eventually abandoned his artwork to pursue a career in acting.

He took up painting again about 15 years ago following the death of his first wife Cassie, a former Bond girl.

“One night, at four or five in the morning, with a head full of madness, I just started painting with my fingers, basically, and then I started painting properly,” he has said. “It was therapeutic. I went to put down on canvas all this angst and darkness; but instead of darkness, out came all this colour. It was joyous.”

Citing his influences as Picasso and Matisse, he now spends much of his free time between film shoots in front of his easel.

One painting, completed in 1992 and titled The Little Fella, depicts his son Sean with boxing gloves. Brosnan’s passion for marine life is reflected in his artwork, with fish appearing in many of his canvases.

A portion of the profits from the sale of the prints will be given to the Brosnan Trust, which distributes money to environmental, children’s and women’s health charities.

One of Brosnan’s causes is lobbying against legislation designed to weaken standards for labelling canned tuna as “dolphin safe”.

From 1997 to 2000, the actor and his wife Keely campaigned against a proposed salt factory on Mexico’s Baja California peninsula to protect the last pristine breeding ground for the Pacific grey whale.

Times Recommends

• Mandela’s tribe threatens President Zuma
• The French empire strikes back
• Wife of cheating governor exacts a political revenge