Want to Buy A Bob Ross Painting? It's Harder Than You Think
“The first day I took a class with Bob, I was so mesmerized by Bob, that I couldn’t paint.”
Bob Ross.
However you feel about his art, you can’t deny his influence around the world. When you hear his name you immediately conjure up an image in your mind of a fro-sporting, kindly, smiling man with a soothing voice, holding a large palette with a firm grip, and in his other hand he deftly wields a palette knife or brush and joyously creates happy little trees, clouds, and majestic mountains in less than 30 minutes–every single time.
It’s been 24 years since he died much too young and far too many paintings short at the age of 52 on July 4, 1995. I admit that my desire to learn to paint started when I began to watch - mesmerized - Bob Ross on my local PBS station in his show, The Joy of Painting. The show ran from 1983 to 1994 in 31 seasons, totaling 403 episodes. Fortunately for us and our mental health, all 403 episodes are available on the official Bob Ross YouTube channel.
It’s estimated that during the production The Joy of Painting, Bob Ross created three versions of each painting featured in each episode. Three times 403 episodes equals 1,209 paintings by Bob Ross. Where are these paintings? Where can you buy them? Well, it’s a lot harder than you think.
The New York Times decided to look into that question. You can read more about what they found in this NYT article: Where Are All the Bob Ross Paintings? We Found Them.
