Paris, France —(Map)
A French charity has raised over $14 million in a raffle for a Picasso painting. The prize? A 1941 portrait by artist Pablo Picasso worth over $1 million. The lucky winner? A man who bought two tickets for $118 each.
Pablo Picasso was one of the world’s most famous painters. He was Spanish, but spent much of his life in France. Picasso is known for changing the way people looked at art. His paintings are worth millions of dollars. In 2015, one of his paintings sold for over $179 million.
The charity, called “1 Picasso for 100 Euros”, makes it possible for ordinary (but lucky) people to own a Picasso. The idea is simple. The group raises money by selling raffle tickets for 100 euros ($118). The person with the winning ticket gets a Picasso painting. Because so many people buy tickets, the charity winds up making money.
The charity, called “1 Picasso for 100 Euros” raises money by selling raffle tickets for 100 euros ($118). The person with the winning ticket gets a Picasso painting. This year, the prize was a 1941 painting called Tête de Femme (“Head of a Woman”), above.
(Source: © Succession Picasso, Paris 2025. Christie’s, Paris.)
This year, the prize was a 1941 portrait of Dora Maar, who was Picasso’s longtime girlfriend and creative partner. The painting, called “Tête de femme” (“Head of a Woman”) is done in shades of gray and white. The painting measures roughly 15 inches by 10 inches (38 centimeters by 25 centimeters), and it’s worth about $1.2 million.
The winner was Ari Hodara, a 58-year-old salesman, who lives in Paris, France. He bought two tickets for $118 each. He said he bought the tickets just for fun. “I’m not a gambler, so I didn’t expect to win,” he said.
When Mr. Hodara got a phone call saying he had won, he actually thought it might be a trick. “How do I know this isn’t a prank?” he asked.
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The winner was Ari Hodara, who bought two tickets for $118 each. He said he bought the tickets just for fun. Above, Peri Cochin (left) who started 1 Picasso for 100 Euros, announcing the winner in Paris on Tuesday. Mr. Hodara only found out later when he got a phone call. At first he thought it was a trick.
But it was no trick. Mr. Hodara is now the owner of a very expensive Picasso painting. Mr. Hodara likes art, and already owns about 10 paintings. But he says that owning a Picasso is a big deal. “Picasso represents something incredible for me and for everybody,” he told the New York Times.
The charity also won big as a result of the raffle. The organizers sold all 120,000 tickets, raising 12 million euros (a little over $14 million).
About one million euros will pay for the painting, and the rest will go to the Alzheimer’s Research Foundation in France. Alzheimer’s is a disease that affects people’s brains as they get older. Alzheimer’s can make it hard for people to remember things or take care of themselves.
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The charity also won big as a result of the raffle. The organizers sold all 120,000 tickets, raising 12 million euros (a little over $14 million). About one million euros will pay for the painting, and the rest will go to the Alzheimer’s Research Foundation in France.
The charity has run two similar raffles in the past. In 2013, a man won a Picasso artwork in a raffle that raised over $5 million to protect the historic city of Tyre in Lebanon. In 2020, another Picasso piece helped raise over $5 million to support clean water projects in Africa.
Mr. Hodara is now thinking carefully about what to do next. Because the painting is so valuable, it could be a target for thieves. Mr. Hodara says he’s “a little bit nervous” about the idea of bringing it home.
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