Paintings by famed art professor Bob Ross will be auctioned off to help support public television stations that have faced funding cuts under the Trump administration.
About 30 of his works of art, which he mostly created on air during his TV show, The Joy of Painting in the 80s and 90s, will be auctioned by Bonhams from November.
Bob Ross Inc said the auction “ensures that Bob's legacy continues to support the very environment that brought his joy and creativity into American homes for decades.”
This happens after Congress leaves. Trump's request for funding for public broadcastingleaving about 330 public broadcasting stations (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR) stations scrambling for a new source of funding.
Ross's show led to a revival during the Covid pandemic as audiences enjoyed his soft-spoken, colour-infused lessons. Inappropriate wrist strikes, a former drill air sergeant would say, were simply “happy accidents.” He died at the age of 52 in 1995.
Bob Ross Inc said it donated the paintings to American Public Television and that all of the network's proceeds go to local public television stations across the country.
That includes programs such as America's Test Kitchen, Julia Child's French Chef Classics and This Old House, the Associated Press reported.
In August, an auction of two of Ross's works broke records, selling for double and triple what was expected.
A lake under snowy peaks and cloudy skies sold for $114,800, and a lake under snowy mountains and clear skies sold for $95,750.
“I can tell you that Bob would be pretty embarrassed to know that his paintings are now selling in the six figures,” Joan Kowalski, president of Bob Ross Inc. told The New York Post After sold lots.
“He was never interested in his finished works, Bob was more fascinated by the process of painting and sharing it with other people.”
“Truth be told, I can still hear him say things like, 'You don't want my pictures, you want to create your own and hang them proudly on your wall.'
