More than two dozen paintings by beloved television artist Boss Ross will be auctioned off to support the Public Broadcasting Service as PBS stations across the country struggle to stay afloat following federal funding cuts by President Trump.
Ross, a beloved television mainstay whose show, “The Joy of Painting,” aired in the 1980s and 1990s, dedicated his life to making art accessible to everyone, said Joan Kowalski, the president of Bob Ross Inc.
“This auction ensures his legacy continues to support the very medium that brought his joy and creativity into American homes for decades,” Kowalski added.
Three of Ross’ iconic paintings will be sold in Los Angeles on November 11, while auctions in London, New York, Boston and online will follow. All profits from the auctions will go to stations that use content from distributor American Public Television.
The donation would go to help programs, including “America’s Test Kitchen,” “Julia Child’s French Chef Classics,” “This Old House,” and “The Best of Joy of Painting,” based on Ross’ show.
The auction also comes as 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.
Ross hosted “The Joy of Painting” on PBS from 1983 to 1994, providing paint lessons to viewers. 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 following his death in 1995 at age 52.
Ross’s show also gained a new life during the COVID-19 pandemic, as masses 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 in Los Angeles selling Ross’s paintings next month, sold two early 1990s mountain and lake scenes made by Ross in August for $114,800 and $95,750.
Paintings featured in the upcoming auction have an estimated value of $850,000 to $1.4 million, according to Bonhams.
“I can tell you that Bob would have been quite shy to learn that his paintings are now selling at six figures,” Kowalski, the president of Bob Ross Inc, told the New York Post after that auction.
“He was never really that interested in his finished works, Bob was more fascinated with the process of painting and sharing that with other people.”
Kowalski added: “Truthfully, I can still hear him saying something like, ‘You don’t want my paintings, you want to create your own and hang them proudly on your wall.’”
With reporting by the Associated Press.
