# Bob Ross **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 26, 2012, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-ross/620073 "2012-04-26T22:50:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mewl\_Dear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Mewl\_Dear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mewl_Dear)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-ross/620073/1 "2012-04-26T22:50:52Z")
I assume that if you opened this thread you know who he is/was. Has anyone seen or owned one of his paintings? Are they worth anything? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-ross/620073/2 "2012-04-26T22:54:48Z")
Never saw his paintings. I was more of a Jon Gnagy man, though. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-ross/620073/3 "2012-04-26T23:15:09Z")
I’d be damn surprised if his paintings are worth more than the faux-canvas they’re painted on. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-ross/620073/4 "2012-04-26T23:15:39Z")
But they are happy little paintings. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-ross/620073/5 "2012-04-26T23:21:10Z")
Ebay asks around three grand, but who buys? ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-ross/620073/6 "2012-04-26T23:23:54Z")
I can’t get a good answer from a couple minutes of Googling, but I’m seeing references to prices from a couple hundred dollars to a couple thousand, never more than eight or nine thousand. I’d be very leery of buying an original piece of art on eBay, since it’d be very hard to verify its authenticity. Apparently he donated dozens or hundreds of paintings to PBS fundraisers to be auctioned off. That seems a little high to me, given that they’re not terribly important, original, or rare, but I guess the kitsch factor and Bob’s own celebrity push the prices up. Probably the price has more to do with owning a piece from his iconic\* TV show more than the intrinsic quality of the art. I’d bet on their prices declining over the next twenty or thirty years as Ross fades from the public consciousness, and the sheer number of them gluts the market. \*For very loose usages of the word “iconic”. ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-ross/620073/7 "2012-04-26T23:26:33Z")
I paint oils, I went through a Bob Ross phase and churned out some his landscapes paintings. His techniques are solid, which allows you to pump them out quick. Yeah, an original Ross would be worth something for a select groupe of people, depending on the piece of course and if its authentic. ---
**Author:** ![Shooby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f475e1/32.png) [@Shooby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shooby)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-ross/620073/8 "2012-04-27T21:08:00Z")
Bob Ross always struck me as a decent, less egotistical version of Thomas Kinkade. He had one of the most soothing programs ever. ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-ross/620073/9 "2012-04-27T21:16:03Z")
I would love to own a Bob Ross painting. They are pretty and he was so kindhearted. Those paintings are a part of my childhood. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-ross/620073/10 "2012-04-27T21:20:14Z")
I loved watching his show when I was a kid. He had such a nice voice and his paintings were nice. I would have one of his paintings just for those reasons alone, but I wouldn’t pay a lot for it. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-ross/620073/11 "2012-04-27T23:54:02Z")
> [@miss\_elizabeth](#): > > I would love to own a Bob Ross painting. They are pretty and he was so kindhearted. Those paintings are a part of my childhood. > [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > I loved watching his show when I was a kid. He had such a nice voice and his paintings were nice. I would have one of his paintings just for those reasons alone, but I wouldn’t pay a lot for it. This all the way. Between Bob Ross and Mister Rogers, that was some serious childhood relaxation. I would love to have one of his paintings, but I can’t imagine spending lots of money on one - it would be more for the ‘happy little trees’ memory than for them being any sort of quality painting. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-ross/620073/12 "2012-04-28T00:46:28Z")
I loved his show. He made me want to learn to paint. He made it look so easy and fun. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-ross/620073/13 "2012-04-28T01:11:14Z")
I never got the impression that Bob was trying to sell a lot of his own paintings. He always seemed more interested in getting other people to start painting their own. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-ross/620073/14 "2012-04-28T01:15:27Z")
I LOVED Bob Ross! If I could find one, I’d by it. BTW, in the “what art would you save” thread here, I mentioned Bob Ross. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-ross/620073/15 "2012-04-28T01:47:03Z")
He seems to have nice hair. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-ross/620073/16 "2012-04-28T02:18:05Z")
I’d pay more for a Bob Ross than I’d pay for something from Big Lots or [Overstocked.com](http://Overstocked.com). Which isn’t saying much, I know. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-ross/620073/17 "2012-04-28T05:06:47Z")
Fun fact: Bob Ross was a mean, screaming, drill Sargent in the Air Force, even so he already had a love for painting. [http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1990-07-07/lifestyle/9007060122\_1\_bob-ross-joy-of-painting-pbs/2](http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1990-07-07/lifestyle/9007060122_1_bob-ross-joy-of-painting-pbs/2) > [@](#): > > as a first sergeant in the Air Force, Ross’ job was to, well, be mean. ‘‘I was the guy who makes you scrub the latrine, the guy who makes you make your bed, the guy who screams at you for being late to work,’’ he said. ‘‘The job requires you to be a mean, tough person. And I was fed up with it. I promised myself that if I ever got away from it, it wasn’t going to be that way any more.’’ > > So when he retired in 1981, after 20 years in the military, he vowed never to scream again. Instead, he began teaching art for a national art-supply company. The oft-mimicked style began to form. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-ross/620073/18 "2012-04-28T13:57:06Z")
> [@Shooby](#): > > Bob Ross always struck me as a decent, less egotistical version of Thomas Kinkade. He had one of the most soothing programs ever. To me there are no similarities. Not a version of anything. The only thing Kinkade wanted to sell us was Kinkade, and the notion that that alone made his work valuable. Bob Ross was selling us the idea that we could make something perfectly pleasant, and the tools to do it. If anything, Bob Ross was the before the fact anti-Kinkade. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-ross/620073/19 "2012-04-28T14:41:54Z")
A few months ago I got the idea to buy a Bob Ross painting, since I had such fond memories of his happy little trees. I figured he painted thousands of them, and they must be worthless, right? But I found what others found, that they sell for thousands. I guess that makes sense. I still want one, but I need to earn some more money. ---
**Author:** ![sailor.2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@sailor.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor.2)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-ross/620073/20 "2012-04-28T15:03:49Z")
Just reading this and know he was nice guy. he gave a painting to my dad years ago. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-ross/620073.md?page=2)