Sylvester Stallone is undoubtedly one of the most well-known actors in the world and one of the few classic action movie stars in Hollywood. Most people have heard of the two most notable characters he portrayed: the boxer Rocky Balboa and the soldier John Rambo.
Stallone is widely loved for his acting, yet many people don't know he's also a talented screenwriter and a director, for example he wrote every episode of Rocky and Rambo, and even directed a few them.
He's also solely responsible for the hit action movie series The Expendables which he wrote, directed and starred in alongside movie stars Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Chuck Norris.
The first Expendables movie was released in 2010, and was an immediate success grossing for more than $400 million worldwide. Since then two more films expanded the series into a triology which in total earned more than $1 billion in the theaters.
Only a year before the first The Expendables premiered, a new secret was openly revealed by Stallone which surprised a lot of people worldwide - the actor's passion for painting, which he had been secretly living for decades.
Stallone's Art work was first shown at Art Basel Miami Beach in 2009, then two years later he was featured in his own exhibition in Switzerland. In 2013, a retrospective titled "Sylvester Stallone. Painting. From 1975 Until Today" was shown in Moscow.
Another two years passed since then, and the retrospective, containing Stallone's best work has been once again released, this time under the name "Real Love: Paintings 1975-2015" at the Galerie Contemporaine du Musée de Nice, in France.
The American actor is very fond of the new show, and even admitted he would spend his life painting and sculpting instead of starring in action movies.
"Art is something I have loved from an early age and I continue to do so; perhaps I feel even stronger about art today. Everything that I paint I feel very personally connected to which is what Love is about." - answered Stallone when asked about his feelings towards art.