A Parisian engineer has become the lucky owner of an original Pablo Picasso painting valued at over €1 million after winning a charity raffle with a €100 ticket.
Ari Hodara, 58, discovered his extraordinary fortune on Tuesday when he received a video call from Christie's auction house in Paris announcing he'd won the 1941 artwork Tête de Femme (Head of a Woman). The gouache-on-paper portrait depicts Picasso's partner and muse, surrealist artist Dora Maar, rendered in the Spanish master's distinctive style.
"How do I know this isn't a prank?" Hodara initially questioned when informed of his win. "When you bet on this, you don't expect to win... But I'm very happy because I'm very interested in painting, and it's great news for me."
The engineer purchased ticket number 94,715 just days before the draw after stumbling upon the competition. His entry was selected from more than 120,000 tickets sold worldwide at €100 each, raising approximately €11 million for Alzheimer's research through the "1 Picasso for 100 euros" initiative.
French journalist Peri Cochin, who organized the raffle with support from Picasso's family and foundation, expressed delight that the winner resides in Paris.
"It's going to be very easy for us to deliver the painting, so we're happy," Cochin remarked, noting the city's deep connection to Picasso, who lived and worked there for much of his life.
Of the funds raised, €1 million will go to the Opera Gallery, the painting's previous owner, while the remaining €10 million will support France's Alzheimer's Research Foundation.
"This Picasso initiative is one more building block so that one day Alzheimer's will be nothing more than a bad memory," said foundation head Olivier de Ladoucette.
This marks the third edition of the charitable raffle, founded in 2013. Previous winners include a 25-year-old American in 2013, with proceeds supporting preservation of Lebanon's UNESCO World Heritage city of Tyre, and a 58-year-old Italian accountant in 2020, whose Christmas gift ticket helped fund sanitation projects in Cameroon, Madagascar, and Morocco.