Pierce Brosnan Sells $1.4m Painting to Help Charity

Irish American actor Pierce Brosnan stood beside his $1.4 million painting of music legend Bob Dylan and told how art had helped him cope with the death of his first wife. The James Bond star – who sold the impressive piece for charity at a gala near Cannes – lost Cassandra Harris, his wife of 11 years, in 1991 to ovarian cancer. She was just 43. He was dealt a second cruel blow in 2013 when he lost his daughter Charlotte to the same disease aged 42, the Mirror reported. And on Thursday night he spoke about the healing effect of art as he auctioned off the Dylan painting at the exclusive AmFAR charity gala on the French Riviera. “I’m an enthusiastic painter. I started painting in 1987 when my late wife had cancer, I had been painting out of pain and now the pain sometimes comes through in color,” he said before the sale began. Pierce, who turned 65 on Wednesday, looked gobsmacked when the final bid came through as onlookers cheered. The AmFAR benefit, titled Cinema Against AIDS, was held Thursday night, and also included the sale of an $800,000 restored 1964 S3 Bentley Convertible and a nearly $1 million painting by Joe Bradley. Before getting into the movie business, Brosnan studied commercial illustration at St. Martin’s School of Art in London.