Three paintings from famously chill public television legend Bob Ross sold Tuesday for more than $600,000 at auction, the AP reports. The paintings were the first of 30 Ross works being sold to benefit public TV stations hurt by cuts in federal funding. At the live auction at Bonhams in Los Angeles, a serene, snow vista called "Winter's Peace" that Ross painted entirely during a 1993 episode of The Joy of Painting went for $318,000 to a bidder on the phone. "For a good cause—and you get the painting," auctioneer Aaron Bastian said during the bidding. He invoked a common sentiment of Ross, who died in 1995, during a brief lull. "Bob would remind you that this is your world, and you can do anything you want."
Another painting done on a 1993 episode, a lush, green landscape called "Home in the Valley," went for $229,100. A third, "Cliffside," sold for $114,800. The final prices include a charge for the auction house added to the final bid known as the buyer's premium. The identities of the buyers weren't immediately revealed. Bids for all three paintings went well past pre-auction estimates of their value, which topped out around $50,000. Three more Ross paintings will be up for auction at Bonhams in Marlborough, Massachusetts, on Jan. 27, with others to follow in New York and London. All profits are pledged to stations that use content from distributor American Public Television.
Ross, a public television staple in the 1980s and '90s, was known for his dome of hair and warm demeanor. The special sales seek to help stations in need of licensing fees that allow them to show popular programs that along with Ross' show include America's Test Kitchen, Julia Child's French Chef Classics, and This Old House. Small and rural stations are particularly challenged. The stations "have been the gateway for generations of viewers to discover not just Bob's gentle teaching, but the transformative power of the arts," Joan Kowalski, president of Bob Ross Inc., said in a statement.
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