Canvases by Ross himself made $114,800–787,900 at Bonhams in 2025–26; a painting in his style by a student or instructor is that painter's work.
12 Bonhams results, Aug 2025–Jun 2026: $114,800–787,900Charity sale, November 2025: more than $1.04mAbout 1,143 paintings made for the show
Paintings by Bob Ross himself are scarce and sell for six figures: twelve offered at Bonhams from August 2025 to June 2026 made $114,800–787,900, and one passed $1.04 million at a charity sale. Most are still held by Bob Ross Inc. A canvas painted in his style by a student or a Certified Ross Instructor is that painter's work. For your own painting or print, Art Scan: Painting Identifier — Lovenhall’s painting & art identifier app, free to try on iPhone, iPad & Android — names the likely artist, title and period from a photo.
Figures reviewed November 2026
Holding it now? Point the camera at it — Art Scan: Painting Identifier does the rest.
Bob Ross painted the landscape of each episode of The Joy of Painting three times, and FiveThirtyEight's count, cited by TIME, puts the paintings made for the show at about 1,143. He filmed 30 of its 31 seasons at WIPB, the public-television station in Muncie, Indiana. Most of those paintings never left his company: a New York Times investigation in 2019 found the majority stored at the Virginia headquarters of Bob Ross Inc., whose owners said selling them had never really occurred to them.
That is why the market is so new. In 2025 Joan Kowalski, president of Bob Ross Inc., donated 30 paintings to American Public Television, which distributes the show, and Bonhams has been selling them since November 2025, with the net proceeds going to public-television stations. At the January 2026 sale each was estimated at $25,000–60,000; the three sold for $203,700 to $787,900. By April 2026, ten of the thirty had sold.
Given how few of his own canvases have left the company and its stations, a landscape in his style is more likely to be someone else's. Bob Ross Inc. has Certified Ross Instructors who teach his method, and a painting made with it — by an instructor, a student or anyone painting along — is that painter's work, whatever the scene. Every figure below is an auction result or an asking price, dated and sourced — an orientation, never an appraisal.
| What you hold | What it is | Figures, dated |
|---|---|---|
| A canvas Ross painted, released by his company | One of 30 donated by Bob Ross Inc. to American Public Television and sold at Bonhams from November 2025 | Ten sold by April 2026 for $114,800–787,900 — from Cliffside (1990) to Change of Seasons (1990) |
| A canvas Ross painted for the show, from a PBS station | Mountain Summit (Season 13, Episode 10), sold for WIPB in Muncie; A Walk in the Woods (1983), from the first episode, won at a station auction | Mountain Summit $320,000 at Bonhams, June 2026; A Walk in the Woods offered by a gallery at $9.85m in 2023 — an asking price, no sale reported |
| A canvas sold for charity outside an auction house | Cabin at Sunset (1987), online benefit auction for public media | More than $1.04m, November 2025 |
| Another canvas at auction | Lake Below Snow-Capped Peaks and Cloudy Sky (c.1990–91), 18×24 inches; provenance not given in the sale release | $114,800 at Bonhams online, August 2025 |
| A painting by a student or a Certified Ross Instructor | Made with his method; that painter's work, not his | No published resale figures found |
| A print or reproduction of a Ross landscape | A printed copy of one of his paintings | No published resale figures found |
Read November 2026. The November 2025 Bonhams prices include the buyer's premium; the other releases do not say. Bonhams reported most lots selling at two to thirteen times their high estimates. Sale totals and "record" claims differ between sources, so only lot prices are quoted.
The things a buyer prices in, in roughly the order they look for them.
This sets the order of magnitude. Every six-figure result on this page is a canvas Ross painted himself. A painting made with his method by an instructor, a student or a viewer is that painter's work, and we found no published resale figures for such paintings.
Ten of the twelve Bonhams lots came from Bob Ross Inc. through American Public Television, and an eleventh was sold for the benefit of WIPB in Muncie; the first-episode painting was won at a station auction before a gallery bought it in 2022. A canvas with a documented line back to Ross, his company or a station is one a house can catalogue. A signature on its own does not settle who painted it.
Both kinds have made six figures. Babbling Brook, painted for the show, made $279,900 and Mountain Summit $320,000; Valley View and Purple Mountain Range, painted for his instructional books, made $203,700 and $279,900. The published results do not show a consistent premium for either.
At the January 2026 sale each Ross was estimated at $25,000–60,000 and the three made $203,700 to $787,900, and Bonhams reported lots selling at two to thirteen times their high estimates across its 2025–26 sales. Until more of his paintings have sold, realised prices are a better guide than any estimate.
The prices above were made at Bonhams — in its American Art, California and Western Art and Americana sales in Los Angeles, New York and Marlborough, Massachusetts — and the results are public on its site. Eleven of those twelve were sold for public television, with the net proceeds going to American Public Television's stations or to WIPB.
Before approaching any house, assemble the painting's history: how it left Ross, his company or a station, with letters, receipts or auction records. Ask for the buyer's premium and the seller's commission in writing — Bonhams' November 2025 prices include the buyer's premium, so the hammer prices were lower.
A painting by an instructor or a student is sold as that painter's work, under their own name.
Indicative ranges for honest condition, never an appraisal or a quotation. The house buys, sells and values nothing; a specialist who can see the piece is the only one who can price it.
Lovenhall ArtThis page reads the market. The instrument reads what you are holding — recognised from a photograph, with a range for its kind.