Cabin at Sundown (1987), a portray of a pastoral scene underneath a technicolour sky by the late tv artwork teacher Bob Ross (1942-95) has offered for greater than $1m in a web based profit public sale, setting a brand new secondary-market report for the beloved cultural icon and elevating essential funds for public broadcasters within the US.
The public sale, which ended Monday night (24 November) was a part of a fundraising effort organised by the tv programme Final Week Tonight With John Oliver that additionally featured objects from the present, experiences and merchandise, all on provide to learn the Public Media Bridge Fund initiative. Ross’s portray had elicited greater than 30 bids, pushing its worth to greater than $1.04m.
Earlier this month, three work by Ross offered for greater than $662,000 in all at Bonhams in Los Angeles, to learn American Public Tv (APT). That 11 November sale marked the start of a multistage public sale sequence that can see 30 work donated by Bob Ross Inc offered to help public broadcasting stations throughout the USA. Three works offered at Bonhams—Winter’s Peace (1993), Residence within the Valley (1993) and Cliffside (1990)—have been painted on-camera for episodes of Ross’s Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) present The Pleasure of Portray, which aired nationally all through the Eighties and 90s, and has since change into a cultural phenomenon via reruns and on-line movies.
On the Los Angeles public sale, Winter’s Peace, a snowy panorama with a cabin and evergreen timber, offered for $318,000—setting an public sale report for Ross’s work that was damaged lower than two weeks later by Cabin at Sundown. Residence within the Valley, an outline of a red-roofed cabin overlooking a reflective lake, offered for $229,100. Cliffside, exhibiting waves coursing over a rocky outcrop, offered for $114,800. Bonhams’s gross sales of the donated Ross works are attributable to proceed into 2026.
Bob Ross, Winter’s Peace, 1993 Courtesy Bonhams and Bob Ross Inc
The donation of Ross’s work on the market at Bonhams was made by Joan Kowalski, the president of Bob Ross Inc, to boost funds for US public radio and tv stations now navigating federal funds cuts. Public broadcasters have reported widespread challenges following the Trump administration’s latest elimination of greater than $1bn in federal help for public media, leaving many stations with operational gaps that can not be stuffed solely via native fundraising.
“These funds will assist native stations proceed to serve their communities with impactful programming,” Jim Dunford, the president and chief government of APT, stated in a press release. “We’re deeply grateful to Bob Ross Inc for shining a highlight on the necessity to help public media at this essential time.”
APT, which syndicates programming for public tv within the US, says the proceeds from the auctions shall be distributed to stations most affected by the funding cuts, significantly in rural states, and has warned of reductions in staffing, native journalism, kids’s academic programming and community-based providers. The rising demand for Ross’s work has created, APT says, an “sudden alternative” for stations which have traditionally relied on viewer donations and restricted federal funding.
Though Ross created hundreds of work over his lifetime, most are held by Bob Ross Inc or saved in regional PBS archives, leaving comparatively few obtainable to collectors. This shortage, mixed with Ross’s sustained recognition throughout streaming platforms and social media, and the truth that the few of his work made obtainable have been offered for charitable causes, have all contributed to a speedy enhance within the costs for his work.
Bonhams will promote the remaining 27 work within the Bob Ross Inc donation subsequent 12 months in auctions in Boston, New York and Los Angeles. Every sale will embody work produced throughout televised episodes and chosen from throughout the Eighties and early 90s.
