A Parisian art lover was overjoyed to discover that he had won a Pablo Picasso painting valued at over $1 million in a charity raffle held at Christie’s auction house in Paris. Ari Hodara, a 58-year-old sales engineer and self-proclaimed art enthusiast, expressed disbelief upon receiving the news and initially questioned the authenticity of the win.
Hodara, who described himself as an amateur admirer of Picasso, stumbled upon the raffle by chance while dining at a restaurant over the weekend and decided to purchase a ticket. The painting up for grabs in the “1 Picasso for 100 euros” lottery was Picasso’s Head of a Woman, a portrait of his muse Dora Maar created in 1941. Each ticket cost 100 euros, equivalent to approximately $162.
The online raffle aimed to raise funds for Alzheimer’s research, offering participants the opportunity to win a painting by the renowned Spanish artist. Hodara revealed his plans to inform his wife about the win and expressed his intention to cherish the painting for the time being.
120,000 tickets were sold globally, generating a total of 12 million euros ($19.5 million), with one million euros earmarked for the Opera Gallery, the painting’s owner. Gilles Dyan, the gallery’s founder, disclosed that the painting had a market value of 1.45 million euros ($2.35 million).
This marked the third successful iteration of the charity raffle, with previous editions raising over 10 million euros for cultural initiatives in Lebanon and water and hygiene projects in Africa. The Alzheimer Research Foundation, which organized the raffle, has been a key supporter of Alzheimer’s research in France since its establishment in 2004.