Paris Engineer Wins $1M Picasso for $118 Raffle Ticket

Ari Hodara thought someone was pranking him when Christie's auction house called to say he'd won a Picasso painting worth more than $1 million. The 58-year-old engineer from Paris had bought a single $118 raffle ticket just days earlier.

"How do I know this isn't a prank?" Hodara asked when organizers video-called him during the livestreamed ceremony on Tuesday. His winning ticket secured him "Tête de femme" (Woman's Head), a striking 1941 portrait of Dora Maar, one of Picasso's most famous muses.

The painting, rendered in inky grey and blue gouache, was one of 120,000 tickets sold at $118 each. Buyers from 52 countries participated in the global fundraiser, which raised $12 million for Alzheimer's research.

French journalist Peri Cochin organized the raffle with backing from Picasso's family and foundation. This marks the third time they've raffled off a work by the Spanish master, following similar events in 2013 and 2020.

Previous winners have included a 25-year-old American from Pennsylvania and an Italian accountant who received her winning ticket as a Christmas gift from her son. Each time, regular people with modest budgets walked away with museum-quality masterpieces.

The Ripple Effect

The $12 million raised will fund critical Alzheimer's research through the Alzheimer's Research Foundation. Olivier de Ladoucette, who heads the foundation, says the money addresses a desperate need.

"The funding for research is ridiculous," he said. "In our developed societies, we still haven't understood that this is a major public health issue and that absolutely everyone needs to get involved."

The raffle model brilliantly democratizes both art ownership and charitable giving. For the price of a nice dinner, 120,000 people became patrons of medical research while one lucky person gained a priceless cultural treasure.

De Ladoucette hopes initiatives like this will eventually make Alzheimer's "nothing more than a bad memory."