Bob Ross painting sells for record $1.044 million in John Oliver auction

An original Bob Ross painting sold for a record price in an auction by HBO talk show “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” with proceeds benefiting public media.

Donated by Bob Ross Inc. for the auction, “Cabin at Sunset” sold for $1,044,000, including buyer's premium, when bidding closed Monday night.

The work was painted on-air during the second season of “The Joy of Painting” in 1987 and measures 18 inches by 24 inches without the frame

The price smashed the record for a Ross painting, which was set earlier this month when "Home in the Valley" sold for $229,100. Ross painted that work in just 26 minutes.

According to host John Oliver, the program bid on a trio of Ross paintings in an auction two weeks ago. Those paintings, the first of 30 being auctioned to benefit public broadcasting, sold for a total of $661,900 at Bonhams, including the record price for "Home in the Valley."

“We actually bid on those paintings trying to win one so that we could re-auction it tonight to benefit public media,” Oliver said. “Sadly, those prices were outside of our budget.”

The auctions for Ross’ paintings follow Congress cutting $1.1 billion in allocated funding for public media. According to the Associated Press, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps fund PBS, NPR and more than 1,500 local radio and TV stations, announced in August it would take steps toward closing following funding cuts.

Proceeds from the auctions will benefit the Public Media Bridge Fund, which “aims to secure local public media service across the country.”

According to the Public Media Company, 115 local stations serving 43 million Americans are likely to close by mid 2026.

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Ben Burrows is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture. He was previously the collectibles editor at Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on X and Instagram @benmburrows.