He Won a $1.1M Picasso for Just 100 Euros

A 59-year-old Parisian software engineer, Ari Hodara, has claimed an original Pablo Picasso painting valued at over $1.1 million after participating in a unique non-profit raffle.

The event, titled “1 Picasso for 100 Euros,” sold a record-breaking 120,000 tickets to participants across the globe, with the draw held at the prestigious Christie’s auction house in Paris.

The winning artwork, a 1941 gouache-on-paper portrait titled “Tête de Femme” (Head of a Woman), was purchased from the Opera Gallery for one million euros, while the remaining 11 million euros in proceeds were donated to France’s Fondation Recherche Alzheimer.

This third edition of the raffle marked a significant milestone as the first to completely sell out, successfully merging the world of high-end art with a massive philanthropic effort to fund research into neurodegenerative diseases.