Ari Hodara, a 58-year-old sales engineer from Paris won Pablo Picasso's Head of a Woman, painted in 1941, with just a €100 ($117) raffle ticket. The third iteration of the '1 Picasso for €100' lottery took place at Christie's auction house and raised over $14 million (€12 million) for Alzheimer's research.
Key Takeaways
Ari Hodara won Pablo Picasso's 'Head of a Woman' worth $1 million with a €100 raffle ticket in Paris. The event raised $14 million for Alzheimer's research, with proceeds also going to the Opera Gallery and previous charitable causes. This is the third such raffle organized by the Alzheimer Research Foundation.
Hodara, an amateur art enthusiast, bought his ticket days before the draw after hearing about it by chance during a meal. When organizers called to announce his win, he questioned if it was genuine, asking 'How do I check that it's not a hoax?' All 120,000 tickets were sold worldwide.
The painting, a gouache-on-paper portrait of Picasso's longtime muse Dora Maar, will be handed over to Hodara. Of the €12 million raised, €1 million goes to the Opera Gallery for the artwork and €3 million covers operational costs. The remaining funds support Alzheimer's research through the Alzheimer Research Foundation.
The foundation, based in one of Paris' leading public hospitals, has become France's leading private financier of Alzheimer-related medical research since its founding in 2004. Previous Picasso raffles raised over €10 million for cultural work in Lebanon and water programs in Africa.
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