It's a happy little video about what happened to all those Bob Ross paintings that he painted - before, during and after "The Joy of Painting".
Published by the New York Times on 12 Jul 2019, it's already had more than 6 million views.
Did you know you can't buy a Bob Ross Painting?
That's because it has never occurred to Bob Ross Inc. to sell them. The company which looks after his artistic estate is based P.O. Box 946, Sterling, VA 20167 - but the building is closed to visitors and the paintings are all boxed up inside.
Bob used to paint three paintings for the famous The Joy of Painting television show
- one before the show - as a reference
- one during the show - in 26 minutes flat. Sometimes he introduced last minute improvisations.
- one after the show - for use in the "how to" instruction books
According to an analysis by the website FiveThirtyEight, Mr. Ross painted in 381 of the 403 episodes of the show (the rest featured a guest). If three versions were made of each of those paintings, at least 1,143 originals would exist. Bob Ross Inc. estimates that it has 1,165 paintings stored on site. New York Times
However his paintings never seem to come on the market.
This article perhaps best reflects why people love Bob Ross and want to buy his paintings - I Spent Two Months Trying to Buy a Bob Ross Painting Because Nothing Makes Sense Anymore
The New York Times set out to solve the big mystery of why you cannot buy a Bob Ross and wanted find out how many paintings there were - see Where Are All the Bob Ross Paintings? We Found Them.
The consensus now is that there are 1,143 paintings associated with the show which were painted by Bob Ross. It's surmised that there may also be paintings in existence which he painted as an instructor outside the TV show and in demonstrations - but that number is unknown. There are also the paintings he made before he started on TV.
The Smithsonian offered to take some of his paintings - and as a result, in 2019, Bob Ross Inc. donated an array of artwork and artifacts to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and the paintings and other objects officially became part of the museum’s permanent collection on March 22. You can see the paintings that were donated in the New York Times article.
This article perhaps best reflects why people love Bob Ross and want to buy his paintings - I Spent Two Months Trying to Buy a Bob Ross Painting Because Nothing Makes Sense Anymore
The New York Times set out to solve the big mystery of why you cannot buy a Bob Ross and wanted find out how many paintings there were - see Where Are All the Bob Ross Paintings? We Found Them.
The consensus now is that there are 1,143 paintings associated with the show which were painted by Bob Ross. It's surmised that there may also be paintings in existence which he painted as an instructor outside the TV show and in demonstrations - but that number is unknown. There are also the paintings he made before he started on TV.
The Smithsonian offered to take some of his paintings - and as a result, in 2019, Bob Ross Inc. donated an array of artwork and artifacts to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and the paintings and other objects officially became part of the museum’s permanent collection on March 22. You can see the paintings that were donated in the New York Times article.
Two exhibitions of paintings by Bob Ross
This year Bob Ross has paintings in two exhibitions in the USA. Quite how the paintings were extracted from Bob Ross Inc. is a story which still needs to be told....
