Art fan asks if it’s “a hoax” after winning Picasso painting in €100 raffle
A Parisian art enthusiast is now the proud owner of a Pablo Picasso painting, valued at €1 million, after entering a charity raffle.
Just like with the lottery, if you don’t buy a ticket, then it’s impossible to win the big prize, as Ari Hodari can attest to after winning a Picasso for the token price of €100.
Hodari won the 1941 portrait, titled Tête de Femme (Head of a Woman), which was sold off at Christie’s in Paris, and it has only cost him the equivalent of £87, which doesn’t go too far in the French capital these days.
After being crowned the winner, Hodari’s first instinct was that it was an elaborate prank, the shell-shocked winner shared, “How do I check that it’s not a hoax?”
“I was surprised, that’s it,” Hodari, whose ticket was numbered 94,715, added. “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.
120,000 raffle tickets were sold for the draw, meaning that a total revenue of €12 million was made from the competition.
€1 million will be paid back to Opera Gallery, who owned the Picasso, while the rest of the proceeds will go to the Alzheimer’s Research Foundation in Paris.
The 2026 edition of the ‘1 Picasso for €100’ is the third time that Christie’s has run the charity raffle, which first took place in 2013 and again in 2020.
Remarkably, last time out, the oil on canvas piece Nature Morte was won by a woman from Italy who was given the raffle ticket as a Christmas present from her son.
