Public Television is $1.3 Million Richer, Thanks to Bob Ross 

Three paintings by beloved artist and television personality Bob Ross sold for 13 times their high estimate at a Bonhams Skinner auction on Tuesday, netting APT $1.3 million. The paintings, from a group of 30 works commissioned by Bob Ross, Inc. to Bonhams in October, have a total estimated value of $1.4 million and will benefit APT and PBS stations nationwide.

Rose’s work comes to the block as part of the “America: Making a Nation: Art, History and Heritage” auction, which includes paintings, folk art and other historical artifacts. The sale, held at Bonhams Skinner in Marlborough, Mass., grossed $2.4 million, exceeding its high presale estimate of $1.6 million, and also included works by John James Audubon and Arthur Wesley Dow, as well as a Washington crosses the Delaware River Inspired by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze’s famous canvas.

Ross led the sale seasonal changes (1990), which he painted live during the popular “The Joy of Painting” The TV series, which aired from 1983 to 1994, gained a new wave of popularity during the Covid-19 lockdown. It sold for $787,900, more than thirteen times its high estimate. According to art market data analytics firm ARTDAI, this set a new high for Roth at traditional auction houses, although his cabinet at sunset (1986) set a new record last year for Ross with $1 million to benefit public broadcasting on the HBO show “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.”

Rose’s Tuesday was a success too gurgling stream (1993), which sold for $279,900, more than six times its high estimate, and valley view (1990), sold for $203,700, more than four times its high estimate. These works currently rank third and fifth among Roth’s sales at the auction house, according to ARTDAI.

The sale comes months after news broke that the company, which helped provide funding to National Public Radio and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, would close. Congress last year cut $1.1 billion in funding previously allocated to public broadcasting.

“I am deeply humbled by today’s extraordinary results,” Joan Kowalski, president of Bob Ross Inc., said in press materials. “Seeing Bob’s paintings resonate with me so strongly reminds me that his work continues to bring joy and meaning to people’s lives. It is my hope that Bob’s work will provide meaningful support to stations across the country. That’s exactly what Bob wanted – to continue to inspire and elevate public television for generations to come.”