Four original paintings by the late American television personality Bob Ross are set to go on view at Bonhams’ new U.S. flagship gallery in New York on April 22nd. These works, which Ross created during his iconic series The Joy of Painting, will be sold at the auction house's American Art sale the following day. This event marks the third installment of a larger initiative to sell 30 of Ross's works to benefit public broadcasting.
A trio of Bob Ross paintings sold for over $1 million at Bonhams' “Americana” auction on January 27, 2026, with proceeds benefiting American Public Television (APT). The top lot, *Change of Seasons* (1990), fetched $787,900—more than 13 times its high estimate—followed by *Babbling Brook* (1993) at $279,900 and *Valley View* (1990) at $203,700. The sale follows APT's record-breaking November auction and is part of a series of 24 Ross paintings to be offered throughout the year.
Three paintings by Bob Ross, the beloved host of PBS's *The Joy of Painting*, will be auctioned at Bonhams on January 27 as part of a 30-work consignment benefiting American Public Television (APT). The works—*Valley View* (1990), *Change of Seasons* (1990), and *Babbling Brook* (1993)—carry combined estimates up to $155,000. Previous Ross sales through Bonhams have been strong, including a November auction that brought $662,000 for three works and a separate sale exceeding $1 million organized by comedian John Oliver.
John Oliver’s benefit auction for public broadcasting set a new market record for a Bob Ross painting. On Monday, Ross’s *Cabin at Sunset*, painted for a 1986 episode of PBS’s *The Joy of Painting*, sold for roughly $1,044,000. Oliver revealed the sale on the 2025 finale of *Last Week Tonight With John Oliver*, having persuaded the Bob Ross estate to auction the work. The lot received 35 bids. The auction was part of “John Oliver’s Junk,” an online sale of 65 items that netted nearly $1.54 million for the Public Media Bridge Fund, which supports local public broadcasters after the Trump administration eliminated $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
A 1987 Bob Ross painting, *Cabin at Sunset*, sold for $1.04 million in a benefit auction hosted by late-night comedian John Oliver, setting a new auction record for the artist. The work was painted during the second episode of the 10th season of Ross's television series *The Joy of Painting*. The online sale, which concluded November 24, included 65 eclectic lots—from presidential wax figures to a signed bucket of dolls—and raised funds for the Public Media Bridge Fund, which supports independent broadcasters amid federal cuts to public broadcasting.