He bought a €100 raffle. Walks away with €1M Picasso
15 Apr 2026

A 58-year-old Parisian engineer, Ari Hodara, won an original Pablo Picasso painting worth over €1 million at a charity raffle.

The event was held at Christie's auction house in Paris and livestreamed.

The painting, titled Tete de femme (Woman's head), is a gouache work on paper created by Picasso in 1941. It depicts Dora Maar, one of the artist's muses.

Charity raffle sold 120,000 tickets for Alzheimer's research
Fundraising success

The charity raffle sold 120,000 tickets at €100 each, raising a total of €12 million. The proceeds will be donated to the Alzheimer's Research Foundation.

This is not the first time such an event has been held; previous raffles in 2013 and 2020 also featured Picasso works and raised millions for various causes.

Previous raffle winners
Raffle history

The first raffle in 2013 was won by a Pennsylvania man, who took home Man in the Opera Hat, painted by Picasso in 1914.

The second raffle in 2020 was won by Claudia Borgogno, an Italian accountant. Her son had gifted her the ticket for Christmas.

These events have collectively raised over €10 million for cultural projects and humanitarian efforts.

Need for increased funding for research into Alzheimer's disease
Foundation's impact

The Alzheimer's Research Foundation, founded in 2004, is now France's largest private funder of Alzheimer's-related medical research.

Its head, Olivier de Ladoucette, emphasized the need for increased funding for research into Alzheimer's disease.

He said "The funding for research is ridiculous" and stressed that "in our developed societies, we still haven't understood that this is a major public health issue."