John Oliver’s benefit auction for public broadcasting just set a new market milestone for Bob Ross’ painting—and funneled some crucial funds toward free speech in America. On Monday, Ross’ Cabin at Sunset, painted for a 1986 episode of PBS’ iconic “The Joy of Painting”, sold for roughly $1,044,000.
The late-night comedian revealed on the 2025 finale of “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” that he had persuaded the Bob Ross estate to auction another piece of the beloved painter’s legacy: the intimate, pastoral Cabin at Sunset, with its knobby green hills and slowly lavendering sky. The lot received 35 bids, Variety reports.
Earlier this month, three more of Ross’ “Joy of Painting” works were auctioned at Bonhams Los Angeles to raise funds for American Public Television, the company that made Ross a household name. On November 11, Winter’s Peace (1993) sold for $318,000, while Cliffside (1990) fetched $229,100 and Home in the Valley brought in $114,800. Together, the three paintings totaled $662,000—well below the new auction record set by Cabin in the Woods.
Oliver has been an outspoken critic of the Trump administration’s dramatic budget cuts to federal arts and cultural divisions, including public television. On the November 16 episode of “Last Week Tonight,” where he announced the Ross auction, he detailed how the White House and Congress eliminated $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting earlier this year. The cuts severely undermined and crippled the operations of radio and TV stations, many of which serve small and rural communities across the country.
These dire straits moved him to launch “John Oliver’s Junk,” an online sale of 65 elective items from his show that concluded on November 24. The auction netted nearly $1.54 million for the Public Media Bridge Fund, which is helping local public broadcasters in staying financially afloat following the closure of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
“Our season finale is about the vital role public media plays in the lives of many Americans,” the “Last Week Tonight” team wrote on Instagram, “how the Trump administration’s budget cuts could impact those Americans directly, and one small way we’re trying to make a difference.”
