Christophe Petit Tesson / EPA
This is the third auction of the “1 Picasso for 100 euros” initiative, which aims to raise funds for Alzheimer’s research.
An art enthusiast in Paris experienced an unexpected moment when he discovered he had I win a valuable painting by Pablo Picassovalued at more than one million euros, after buying a ticket for just 100 euros in a solidarity raffle.
Ari Hodaraa 58-year-old sales engineer, received the news on Tuesday, after the draw held at the prestigious auctioneer Christie’s. Surprised, the winner initially questioned the veracity of the information. “How can I be sure this is not a scam?”, he asked the organizers.
Hodara said she bought the ticket casually, during dinner at a restaurant, after learning about the initiative. Picasso’s reinforced admirer revealed that his first intention is to maintain the work. “First I’m going to tell my wife, who’s still at work. Then, I think I’m going to take advantage and keep the painting”, he said, quoted by .
The work in question, Head of a Woman (1941), portrays Dora Maar, one of the Spanish artist’s best-known muses and companions. The draw is part of the third edition of “1 Picasso for 100 euros”, which aims to raise funds for research into Alzheimer’s disease.
In total, they were sold 120 thousand ticketsgenerating revenue of around R$12 million. Of this amount, one million will go to the Opera Gallery, owner of the work. According to the gallery’s founder, Gilles Dyan, the painting was made available at a preferential price, below the estimated market value of 1.45 million euros.
This it’s not the first time that the initiative distributes works by Picasso through raffles. In 2013, an American worker won Man in the Opera Hat (1914), while in 2020 an Italian accountant received Still Life, in a ticket given by her son as a Christmas present.
Previous editions of the raffle allowed raise more than 10 million eurosintended for cultural projects in Lebanon and water and sanitation programs in Africa.
