The Joy of Painting was an American half-hour educational television program that aired from January 11, 1983, to May 17, 1994, and was developed and presented by painter Bob Ross. Ross taught landscape oil painting methods in most episodes, finishing a painting in each one. Occasionally, a guest artist would appear and exhibit a new painting style. The Magic of Oil Painting, presented by Ross's tutor Bill Alexander, followed the same structure as its predecessor. It earned three Emmy Awards throughout its run.
Non-commercial public television stations broadcasted and produced the program. The first season premiered in early 1983, and it was produced by WNVC in Falls Church, Virginia at the time. The program was produced by WIPB in Muncie, Indiana, beginning in the second season in late 1983 and ending in 1994, and afterwards by Blue Ridge Public Television in Roanoke, Virginia. American Public Television is now the distributor of the program. In 1992, reruns of The Joy of Painting started airing on PBS stations throughout the United States under the title The Best of The Joy of Painting, which included a compilation of Bob Ross's best works from previous seasons. Nearly 300 episodes of The Joy of Painting had aired in the United States and later in Canada by the early 1990s. Soon after, Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, the United Kingdom, Europe, Latin America, Greece, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Turkey, Iran, South Korea, Australia, and Japan started airing and dubbing The Joy of Painting in many languages.
Each artwork was done in three different versions by Ross. The first, completed before to shooting, rested on an easel off-camera and served as a pattern for a second, which viewers actually saw him paint, and a third, which he painted after taping for inclusion in his instructional books. Bob Ross, Inc. saved all three versions and gave them to different PBS stations, the Smithsonian Institution, and other organizations.
