EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been up to date with outcomes from the raffle.
A portray by famed Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, valued at greater than $1 million, has sold for the worth of a dinner in Paris.
Ari Hodara was the fortunate winner of the “1 Picasso for 100 euros” raffle, which provided entrants the prospect to take house Picasso’s 1941 gouache “Tête de Femme.” The value of a ticket was — because the title of the competition suggests — 100 euros, or about $117.
A whole of 120,000 tickets had been accessible and proceeds might be donated to the Alzheimer’s Research Foundation, which helps medical analysis into the illness throughout Europe.
Hodara, who purchased lucky ticket quantity 94715 final weekend, is an artwork lover from Paris who works promoting software program. Learning he now owns a Picasso got here as fairly the shock. “How can I check this isn’t a hoax?” he requested over the telephone when Péri Cochin, one of many raffle’s organizers, advised him of the consequence in the course of the live-streamed occasion. She switched to video name and revealed the viewers.
“Can you be unhappy about winning a Picasso? No, I don’t think so,” Hodara mentioned, laughing.
This is the third version of the marketing campaign. The first “1 Picasso for 100 euros” was held in 2013, with funds donated to the preservation of Tyre, a historic metropolis in Southern Lebanon. A second edition in 2020 supported clear water and hygiene packages in the course of the top of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Olivier Widmaier Picasso, grandson of the legendary Spanish artist, advised NCS’s Paula Newton forward of the occasion that his grandfather created “Tête de Femme” in the identical studio the place he painted his masterpiece “Guernica.”
He mentioned he believed the work is being undervalued. “It’s worth much more than $1 million,” Widmaier Picasso mentioned, “so it will be really a big prize.”
Picassos have fetched staggering sums at public sale up to now. “Les Femmes d’Alger (Version ‘O’)” sold for greater than $179 million in 2015.
The Opera Gallery, which donated the portray, says Pablo Picasso was in Paris when he painted “Tête de Femme.” World War II was raging throughout Europe and far of France was beneath German occupation.
“Tête de Femme” is about 15 inches tall and 10 inches extensive. The lady’s expression, painted in numerous shades of grey, is deliberately distorted in Picasso’s signature Cubist type. The Opera Gallery says the gouache displays a second of introspection and concentrated studio work for the artist.
Widmaier Picasso says {that a} pal of his got here up with the “1 Picasso for 100 euros” initiative.
“She thought it was a modern vision of charity by offering people the option to get a real artwork of my grandfather and to participate in humanitarian operations,” he mentioned.
Widmaier Picasso believes his grandfather would assist “1 Picasso for 100 euros.”
“My grandfather was a pioneer in many ways,” he mentioned. “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.”
Widmaier Picasso had mentioned whoever received “Tête de Femme” can be free to do no matter they want with it. The winner of the primary contest, for instance, determined to show their prize in a museum.
“Anyone can do what they want,” he added. “They can keep it in the living room, they can show it in an exhibition — or they can resell it.”
Widmaier Picasso mentioned his grandfather would agree with letting the winner resolve, as a result of that’s how he operated.
He mentioned his grandmother, Marie-Thérèse Walter, who was solely 17 years outdated when Picasso started a romantic relationship together with her, was showered with artwork. The artist was in his mid-forties on the time, married with a younger son.
Marie-Thérèse Walter’s options appeared in Picasso’s work over the subsequent decade. Widmaier Picasso says his grandfather repaid her for the years of inspiration.
“When my grandfather was giving artworks, it was forever,” he mentioned. “It was a decision – you do what you want with it. Pablo gave a lot of artworks to his lady, and she kept everything until she died. So I’m offering all options.”
Mylene Loubiere-Anderson contributed to this report.