Bob Ross paintings beat expectations at auction, marking milestone for late artist
It turns out “happy little trees” can be quite the cash crop.
Two original Bob Ross oil paintings recently shattered expectations at Bonhams’ American Art Online auction, selling for double and triple their estimated prices — and setting new records for the beloved late artist.
The works, both tranquil mountain-and-lake scenes from Ross’s The Joy of Painting series, pulled in impressive figures. “Lake Below Snow-Capped Peaks and Cloudy Sky” sold for $114,800, more than twice its expected value. Meanwhile, “Lake Below Snow-Covered Mountains and Clear Sky” brought in $95,750 — nearly three times its original estimate.
“Bob would’ve been pretty shy about all this,” said Joan Kowalski, president of Bob Ross Inc., in a statement to The Post. “He was far more focused on the joy of painting itself, not the final product. I can still hear him saying, ‘You don’t want my paintings — you want to make your own and proudly hang them on your wall.’”
Both paintings, created between 1990 and 1991, drew interest from multiple bidders during the auction, which ran from July 28 to August 7. The winning bids now stand as the highest prices ever paid for Ross’s work, surpassing the previous record of $55,000 set just weeks earlier on July 25 for “Snow-capped barn and trees behind a post and wire fence,” sold at Eldred’s Auction Gallery in Massachusetts.
Though Ross passed away in 1995 at age 52, his legacy lives on through The Joy of Painting, the cult-favorite PBS series that aired over 400 episodes from 1983 to 1994. While Ross’s net worth was reportedly around $1 million during his lifetime, the value of his art has grown significantly in recent years.
Paintings from the show are rarely sold — they are owned by Bob Ross Inc. and usually kept out of the auction market. In fact, only seven have changed hands over the past year, typically selling for between $30,000 and $55,000, according to Artnet.
These latest six-figure sales mark a major milestone: the first Ross paintings to ever come close to — or break — the $100,000 threshold. Previously owned by private collectors in Florida, they’ve now helped elevate Ross’s market value to new heights.
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