For more than a decade, Bob Ross demonstrated how to paint landscapes on his television program “The Joy of Painting.” He claims to have painted 30,000 pictures, but his works are rarely for sale. So it is no wonder that the film “A Walk in the Forest”, which the late artist painted in his first broadcast, is expected to gross several million euros.
He may not have been the most talented artist of all time, but with his iconic hairstyle (you’ll find out if it was real later in the article) and his monotone, calm voice, he thrilled millions of fans. A wide range of Bob Ross products came onto the market – from paint to brushes to bizarre things like underwear and toasters – you could buy all kinds of fan items over the decades. But Ross’s photos rarely change hands, so the sale is a minor sensation.
The first painting, which Ross painted in front of a camera within half an hour on January 11, 1983, is now expected to fetch almost ten million euros. It shows a rocky path winding its way through a kitschy landscape of trees and shrubs. Artistically it’s probably not the most demanding painting, but that wasn’t what Ross was interested in. Instead, as the show’s name “The Joy of Painting” suggests, he wanted to convey the joy of painting.
The original owner probably paid less than $100
After the broadcast, Ross gave the work, which is now for sale, to the TV station where the episode was recorded. He later sold it to a lady, the price was unknown at the time. “But if the price is in line with other paintings sold at the time, she probably paid less than $100,” a spokeswoman for the selling gallery Modern Artifact told The Washington Post. After hanging in the buyer’s home for forty years, the gallery finally acquired it. They now want 10 million dollars (approximately 9.4 million euros) for the work.
In this video Ross paints a bridge over a river:
And how does the gallery justify this proud prize? Bob Ross was “the people’s artist,” said gallery owner Tyan Nelson. “It’s not some high-profile gallery telling you Bob Ross is great. It’s the masses, the people of the world, who say Bob Ross is great. .”
Was Ross’ curly mane real?
And now the artist’s iconic hairstyle, which made him instantly recognizable and perhaps even contributed to his overwhelming success: Incredibly, Ross was not born with this curly mane, but actually opted for the perm of his own free will (although he hated). ). “He had the bright idea that he could save money on haircuts,” explains his business partner Annette Kowalski. “So he grew out his hair, got a perm and decided he would never need a haircut again.” Once he became famous, the messy head had become his trademark – so he decided to keep the unloved hairstyle.
This post shows Bob Ross with straight hair:
Almost all of Ross’s photos are stored in cardboard boxes
What is also bizarre is the fact that so few of the TV painter’s paintings were sold, even though he painted tens of thousands in his lifetime. In his eleven-year deployment alone, he created 1,143 works; he painted each motif three times per episode. One before the broadcast as a reference for the picture he painted for the camera and a third painting after the recording for his Bob Ross textbooks. Almost all of them are stored in cardboard boxes from the company Bob Ross Inc., which he founded with Kowalski. Her business partner told the New York Times that selling his work “wasn’t really Bob’s thing.” The company will likely have earned sufficient revenue from fan merchandise. The fact that there are so few photographs of Ross in circulation also contributes to the myth of the artist, which remains marketable today.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
