Bob Ross Paintings Top $1M at Auction

A funny thing happened when U.S. Air Force sergeant Ross was transferred from Florida to Fairbanks, Alaska, at the height of the Cold War.

Inspired by the mountains surrounding the air base, he picked up a brush and palette and began painting. The rest became TV history when Bob Ross began teaching on air in a program that was broadcast into millions of U.S. homes via the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

Ross collectors were out in force this week, when $1,177,450 worth of his paintings sold at Bonhams Skinner's American Art sale on August 12.

The sale saw two of his signature works, Mountain Waterfall and Mountain Landscape, each fetch $406,900, with both selling for more than ten times their low estimates.

The first was painted by Ross in 1983 in front of the TV cameras for Episode 12 of The Joy of Painting and it originally belonged to PBS. Mountain Landscape (about 1990) was a gift made by the artist to a fan in the year it was painted.

Meanwhile, the Minnetrista Museum and Gardens, Muncie, Indiana, has a show of Ross's cabin paintings (until October 11) alongside its permanent Bob Ross Experience, which includes the PBS recording studio where he demonstrated the Bob Ross Wet-on-Wet Technique® on canvas.