How Bob Ross Became An Internet Sensation... 20 Years After His Death

Robert Norman ‘Bob’ Ross has become something of an internet phenomenon in recent years.

A painter and art instructor, he presented the US show 'The Joy of Painting’ on the PBS network – think Tony Hart meets Watercolour Challenge – with uploaded clips of the show on YouTube regularly tipping well over a million views.

- What’s going wrong with Top Gear?
- 10 things no one tells you about reality TV shows
- 11 random ways iconic movie scenes were created

So big has the cult of Bob become, that a selection of his shows have just been added to Netflix, where it’s getting top billing on the streaming service’s homepage in both the US and the UK.

And while UK audiences start to lap up his bucolic, softly-spoken vibes, it is perhaps worth noting that Ross died way back in 1995.

So how has an TV art instructor who has been dead for over 20 years managed to find himself in the rarified situation of becoming a cult phenomenon?

The only thing for it is to watch the show, at which point all becomes apparent.

It’s mesmerising.

With his joyously soft-focus afro and greying beard, he has the approachability of favourite uncle, explaining his painting in a soothingly folksy fashion – 'let’s dance a little sky in here’, 'let’s make some happy little trees’, 'let’s get crazy!’ as he adds some dark burnt sienna to a crystal blue sky to create a distant mountain range.

And what’s more, his results are amazing. Watching an episode from beginning to end, he creates natural scenes so carefully, gradually and skilfully, you barely notice it happening.

In one episode, apropos of absolutely nothing, he introduces two baby squirrels he’s been rearing from birth back home, feeding them with a syringe of milk. Such cuteness predated the internet’s obsession with such matters by decades.

Born and raised in Florida, he joined the Air Force at 18, rising to the ranks of master sergeant, somewhat unbelievably describing himself as being 'tough and mean’ at the time, resolving to never raise his voice again once he’d retired from the forces after 20 years.

Aware of his talent for painting, he discovered a TV show called 'The Magic of Oil Painting’, hosted by Bill Alexander, also broadcasting on PBS, while working as a bartender in Alasak. He became Alexander’s student, studying his wet-on-wet style of oil painting. Amazingly, his iconic hair-do came about while he was struggling as an artist, having his hair permed to save money on hair cuts.

Ross eventually created his own show on PBS in 1983, with it running up to 1994, eventually syndicating in Canada, Latin America and Europe as well as across the US.

In Holland, such was his soporific appeal, they even broadcast his show on the radio.

In fact, he did the shows for PBS for free, making his money through creating a multi-million dollar business selling his own line in art supplies, books and teaching painting classes.

Sadly, he was diagnosed with lymphoma in the early 90s, and was forced to retire after ‘The Joy of Painting’s final episode in May, 1994.

He died aged 52 on July 4, 1995.

Such is his notoriety in the US, there was a 'Google Doodle’ dedicated to him on October 29, 2012, on the 70th anniversary of his birth.

It was last year that video platform Twitch.TV, a San Francisco-based social networking for gamers, began streaming all of the old episodes of the show – more than 200 hours’ worth – over nine days that it soon began to go viral, starting on what would have been Bob’s 73rd birthday.

It became a huge hit, with 5.6 million people reportedly watching that first marathon, with fans finding themselves rapt.

Netflix has now picked up Ross’s 1991 series 'Beauty Is Everywhere’, identical to 'The Joy of Painting’ in format, just with a few more squirrels.

A rep for Bob Ross, Inc. told Buzzfeed last year: “Bob always knew he would reach everyone sooner or later.

“That was his dream. Not necessarily an increased interested in ‘him’ the guy, but for kids (and adults) to build on their own inner resources, make them want to create from scratch, from nothing.

“Bob is doing that little side grin half-wink right now.”

In a remark which will resonate now more than ever, Ross himself once said: “I got a letter from somebody here a while back, and they said, 'Bob, everything in your world seems to be happy.’ That’s for sure. That’s why I paint.

“It’s because I can create the kind of world that I want, and I can make this world as happy as I want it. Shoot, if you want bad stuff, watch the news.”

Amen, Bob. Amen.

Image credits: Netflix/Twitter