French Man Wins $1 Million Picasso Painting For Just $117: 'How Can I Check This Isn’t A Hoax'

Last Updated:April 15, 2026, 16:50 IST

Picasso painting Tete de Femme worth over $1 million raffled for 100 euros, Paris man Ari Hodara wins, proceeds support Alzheimers research across Europe.

A painting by famed Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, valued at more than $1 million, has been sold at just $117 or 100 euros.

According to CNN, Ari Hodara, from Paris, was the lucky winner of the “1 Picasso for 100 euros" raffle, which offered entrants the chance to take home Picasso’s 1941 gouache “Tête de Femme". The price of a ticket was – 100 euros, or about $117.

The event was held for the benefit of Alzheimer’s Research Foundation, which supports clinical research into the disease across Europe. The painting was donated by the Opera Gallery.

“How can I check this isn’t a hoax?" Hodara asked over the phone when Péri Cochin, one of the raffle’s organizers, told him of the result during the live-streamed event.

According to CNN, “Tête de Femme," about 15 inches tall and 10 inches wide, shows woman’s expression, painted in different shades of gray, is intentionally distorted in Picasso’s signature Cubist style.

After winning the painting, Hodara said: “Can you be unhappy about winning a Picasso? No, I don’t think so."

Previously, similar event “1 Picasso for 100 euros" was held in 2013. The funds earned were donated to the preservation of Tyre, a historic city in Southern Lebanon. In 2020, the similar event was held to support clean water and hygiene programmes during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ahead of this year’s event, CNN quoted Olivier Widmaier Picasso, grandson of the legendary Spanish artist, that his grandfather created “Tête de Femme" in the same studio where he painted his masterpiece “Guernica." “It’s worth much more than $1 million," Widmaier Picasso said, “so it will be really a big prize."

Picasso’s “Les Femmes d’Alger (Version ‘O’)" was sold for more than $179 million in 2015.

“My grandfather was a pioneer in many ways," he said. “I think that he was always very interested in participating in new things. I would say that today he would have been interested in video or maybe in artificial intelligence."

News world French Man Wins $1 Million Picasso Painting For Just $117: 'How Can I Check This Isn’t A Hoax'

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