• Ari Hodara wins €1 million Picasso in a charity raffle.
• The raffle raised €12 million for Alzheimer’s research.
• All 120,000 tickets for the draw were sold.
• This year’s prize is Picasso's "Head of a Woman".
• Previous raffles raised funds for cultural and sanitary projects.

A Parisian engineer named Ari Hodara won a Pablo Picasso painting valued at €1 million (approximately $1.18 million) in a charity raffle held at Christie's auction house. The 58-year-old, who described himself as a casual art enthusiast, purchased a €100 ticket after serendipitously discovering the raffle while dining out. Upon receiving the call confirming his win, Hodara responded, "How do I check that it’s not a hoax?" according to Reuters, South China Morning Post, and BBC.

The raffle, part of the "1 Picasso for 100 euros" initiative, surpassed expectations this year, with every one of the 120,000 tickets sold, raising about €12 million (approximately $14 million) for Alzheimer’s research. The current edition was initiated to assist the Alzheimer Research Foundation, a leading private financier of research related to the disease, and is supported by families connected to Picasso, as reported by Le Monde and NPR.

The painting awarded in this raffle is Picasso's "Head of a Woman," a gouache-on-paper piece rendered in 1941 depicting Dora Maar, one of Picasso's muses. The art gallery, Opera Gallery, will receive €1 million from the proceeds, with the remaining funds directed towards Alzheimer's research initiatives in France, according to India Times and CBS News.

This event marks the third iteration of the raffle, which has previously raised significant funds for various causes, including cultural preservation efforts in Lebanon and humanitarian projects across African countries. The first raffle took place in 2013, providing funds for the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Tyre, Lebanon, while the second edition in 2020 funded sanitation projects in several African nations, according to Reuters, South China Morning Post, and Le Monde.