The first three original oil paintings by American television icon Bob Ross (out of a total of 30) were auctioned at Bonhams on Tuesday. The paintings sold for a total of $600,000. Proceeds from this and future sales of Ross’s “Happy Little Paintings” will benefit PBS, a nonprofit organization affected by President Trump’s budget cuts.
Three landscape paintings by Ross –cliff edge1990; and valley home and winter peaceboth from 1993, were top lots at major California and Western art auctions. valley home and winter peace Both were painted in front of the camera as part of Ross’s long-running television program “The Joy of Painting,” a program on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) that ran for 11 years starting in 1983. (Ross died of lymphoma in 1995.) Cliffside was painted for Volume 20 of the Ross Drawing Instructional Manual series, also known as the joy of painting. The book includes step-by-step instructions and photos on how to draw 13 scenes, one of which is cliff edge.
winter peace and valley home The pre-sale estimate is $30,000-50,000 each, while cliff edge Estimate is $25,000-40,000. They are priced at $318,000, $229,100 and $114,800 respectively (including premium).
The remaining 27 paintings will be auctioned by Bonhams in 2026 in New York, Boston and Los Angeles.
It is reported new york times When the sale was announced in early October, Joan Kowalski, president of Bob Ross Inc., came up with the idea after she learned that Bonhams had recently sold two early-1990s Ross paintings from a private collection for well above their presale estimates. August, Lake and cloudy sky under snowy peaks Priced at $114,800 Lake under snowy mountains and clear sky Price is $95,750.
At that time, Kowalski decided to donate 30 paintings owned by the Ross estate to PBS, which syndicates television programs such as “The Joy of Painting.” “This will incentivize bidders because it will help public television,” Kowalski told new york times. “Those two ideas came together and I couldn’t let go until I put it into action.”
