$117 raffle ticket bags $1 mn Picasso

Paris

A Parisian art enthusiast could not believe his luck when he found out Tuesday he'd won a Pablo Picasso painting worth USD 1 million with a USD 117 raffle ticket.

“How do I check that it's not a hoax?” said Ari Hodara, 58, after organisers called him following the draw at Christie's auction house in the French capital.

Hodara described himself as an art amateur fond of Picasso and said he bought his ticket over the weekend after finding out about the charity raffle by chance during a meal in a restaurant.

“First, I will tell the news to my wife, who has yet to return from work,” said Hodara, a sales engineer. “And at first, I think I'll take advantage of it and keep it.” The third iteration of the “1 Picasso for 100 euros” lottery was for Picasso's “Head of a Woman,” a portrait of Picasso's longtime muse and partner Dora Maar. The gouache-on-paper was painted by the artist in 1941.

The online draw offered the chance to win a USD 1 million portrait by the Spanish artist in aid of Alzheimer's research.

Organisers said all 1,20,000 tickets were sold worldwide, netting 12 million euros (USD 14 million). Of that, 1 million euros will be paid to the Opera Gallery, an international art dealership that owned the painting.