Bob Ross' 1986 Painting Bought For Over $1 Million In Support of Public Broadcasting

Bob Ross, prolific daytime tv coating teacher who charmed the satellite with his serene monologues, continues to marque the satellite a amended spot 20 years aft his death. His property precocious sold 1 of his paintings astatine an auction to enactment PBS and nationalist media — and the enactment of creation fetched implicit $1 million.

On past week’s 2025 finale of Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, Oliver asked the Bob Ross property to auction disconnected 1 of the artist’s paintings. “Cabin astatine Sunset,” which the iconic creator made connected his PBS bid “The Joy of Painting” during play 10 successful 1986, ended up selling for $1,044,000 aft an unthinkable 35 bids.

This isn’t the archetypal of Ross’ paintings that person sold successful enactment of PBS, besides known arsenic the Public Broadcasting System, which has been stripped of astir each its backing by the Trump administration. In aboriginal November, Bonhams Los Angeles auctioned disconnected 3 of Ross’ different paintings, besides made connected his show, to enactment American Public Television.

Bonhams sold Ross’ 1993 coating “Winter’s Peace” for $318,000, and the 1990 paintings “Cliffside” and “Home successful the Valley” sold for $229,100 and $114,800 respectively. Those 3 paintings were, according to Variety, portion of a radical of 30 works by Ross that volition beryllium sold implicit the adjacent twelvemonth successful enactment of American Public Television and their ngo to financially enactment nationalist TV stations nationwide.

Oliver’s auction — which includes galore different chill and wacky items similar a accidental to conscionable Oliver successful NYC, a screen-worn jockstrap that belonged to Russell Crowe (??), and wax versions of assorted presidents — raised astir $1.54 cardinal for the Public Media Bridge fund, which volition assistance nationalist media nationwide successful securing the funds indispensable to support stations going successful the aftermath of the Trump admin’s determination to efficaciously adjacent down the Corporation for Public Broadcasting aft eliminating $1.1 cardinal from their wide budget.

“We’ve really accumulated a clump of weird artifacts connected this amusement implicit the years that we could decidedly auction disconnected to rise immoderate overmuch needed money,” Oliver said connected the finale episode. “I americium arrogant to denote Last Week Tonight’s archetypal ever auction successful assistance of nationalist media. This is real!”

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Photo by Acey Harper/Getty Images.

Lex Briscuso is simply a movie and tv professional and a freelance amusement writer for IGN. You tin travel her connected Twitter astatine @nikonamerica.