Three original paintings by beloved TV artist Bob Ross sold for more than $600,000 at auction to benefit public broadcasting after stations were decimated by the Trump administration’s funding cuts.
“Winter’s Peace” - a calming, snowy scene painted entirely during a 1993 episode of Ross’ show “The Joy of Painting” - was sold for $318,000.
A bright green landscape, “Home in the Valley,” also made during a 1993 episode, sold for $229,100. The third painting, “Cliffside,” sold for $114,800.
“For a good cause — and you get the painting,” auctioneer Aaron Bastian said, channeling the exuberant energy of Ross, who died in 1995 at age 52. “Bob would remind you that this is your world, and you can do anything you want.”
Bonhams announced the sales of the artworks Tuesday. The auction house will host similar public sales of Ross’s works in Boston, New York and Los Angeles next year to benefit stations that use content from distributor American Public Television.
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The donation would help programs, including “America’s Test Kitchen,” “Julia Child’s French Chef Classics,” “This Old House,” and “The Best of Joy of Painting,” which is based on Ross’ show.
The stations “have been the gateway for generations of viewers to discover not just Bob’s gentle teaching, but the transformative power of the arts,” Joan Kowalski, the president of Bob Ross Inc., said in a statement.
The auction comes after President Donald Trump directed Congress to slash $1.1 billion budgeted for public broadcasting, leaving approximately 330 PBS and 246 National Public Radio stations scrambling to find other sources of funding.
As a result, some of these television and radio stations have been forced to lay off staff and make programming cuts.
Kowalski came up with the idea for the auction to help make up for some of the lost funding. All three paintings were sold Tuesday for much more than their pre-auction estimates of about $50,000 each. The identities of the buyers were not immediately known.
Ross became an adored pop culture icon, hosting “The Joy of Painting” on PBS from 1983 to 1994 with the mission of making art accessible to all Americans. With his soft-spoken voice and calming personality, Ross encouraged others to pick up a brush – often referring to erroneous paint strokes as “happy accidents.”
The beloved host, who used his television show to promote his line of art supplies and class recordings, ended up building a $15 million business, Bob Ross Inc., which has continued his legacy today even after his death.
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Ross’s show gained a new life during the COVID-19 pandemic, as people across the globe took comfort in his warm presence during a time of isolation and lockdowns.
The 30 paintings set to be auctioned off span Ross’s entire career. They include landscapes of beautiful mountain vistas and lakes, painted with his signature flair. Most of the paintings were created on-air, in less than 30 minutes – the length of an episode.
Bonhams, the auction house selling Ross’s paintings, sold two early 1990s mountain and lake scenes made by Ross in August for $114,800 and $95,750.
Some of the work featured in the upcoming auction is estimated to be valued between $850,000 and $1.4 million, according to Bonhams.
With reporting from the Associated Press
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