Sylvester Stallone's paintings unveiled at Russian museum

(UPI) -- Who knew Rambo had an artsy side?

The State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg has a collection of Sylvester Stallone's personal artwork on display titled Sylvester Stallone. Art. 1975-2013.

The 30-piece exhibition spans the last four decades of his career.

"I think I'm a much better painter than an actor," he said at the exhibition opening Monday.

"It's much more personal and I'm allowed to just do what I want to do. Quite often in acting you have to play a certain part, you cannot speak as much as you want to speak. I suppose the heroes don't talk much, you have to be very stoic."

Hey art lovers: be sure to stop by the bar tonight and talk to us about our collection of Sly Stallone paintings pic.twitter.com/QSl0oifZAN

— Littleneck (@LittleneckBK) October 28, 2013

About 1,000 people attended the 67-year-old actor's exhibition, which "show[ed] the character of a passionate man," and not “the work of an amateur," museum director Vladimir Gusev said.

The museum's website describes Stallone's work as "arising out of an inner necessity that stems from when the amount of accumulated knowledge, sensations and feelings demand to be materialized and transitioned to a new reality."

"Stallone's paintings can seem beautiful or savage, skillfully done or not, but they do not leave viewers indifferent, as within them lives the mystery of experience," it adds. "They express the power of human despair, suffering and hope, which is given a "voice" in painted form and comprises the positive side of the work of Stallone as an artist."

Stallone also told Voice of Russia that he's influenced by the "German tradition of bold colors."

The first painting I ever bought of a Russian painter was Chagall when I started making money. So I’ve always been inspired by very bold, dramatic painters, I followed very much the German tradition of bold colors, Gerhard Richter I love very much, but unfortunately I started out more with the painters that are very-very famous like Picasso, Salvador Dali and so long and so forth, but today I’m really impressed by the new young blood coming up that are mixing all the styles and coming up with different interpretations, so I’m constantly impressed.