This $1M Picasso Could Be Yours for Just $117
"Tête de Femme,” a gouache on paper, is being raffled to support Alzheimer’s research.
For about the price of a good toaster oven that doesn't break upon first use, you might be able to take home your very own Pablo Picasso painting.
The auction series 1 Picasso for 100 Euros is back for the third time since 2013, raffling an original Picasso work for €100 (~$117) a ticket to support a charitable organization. This year, Picasso's “Tête de Femme (Head of a Woman)” (1941), a gouache on paper, will be up for sale to benefit research at the Fondation Recherche Alzheimer, France's leading Alzheimer's research organization. The artwork is estimated to be worth €1 million (~$1.17 million).
Proceeds from the competition will fund the expansion of research centers for the foundation, which was established in 2004 and supports clinical research across 40 institutions in France and Europe, including projects seeking to identify risk factors of the disease.
The winner of the small painting — which measures about 15 1/3 x 10 inches (38.9 x 25.4 cm) — will be drawn from a pool of up to 120,000 tickets on April 14 at Christie's in Paris.
In the raffle's inaugural edition, 25-year-old Jeffrey Gonano from Wexford, Pennsylvania, won "L'Homme au Gibus," a 1914 Picasso gouache on paper. According to the 1 Picasso for 100 Euros website, the funds generated from the draw were used to boost efforts to revive handicraft techniques at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Tyre in Lebanon, which suffered damages during the country's civil war.
Seven years later, Claudia Borgogno of Ventimiglia, Italy, won Picasso's "Nature Morte" (1921) after buying a raffle ticket for her mother's birthday. Proceeds from that draw went toward rehabilitating wells in several African countries, according to the auction website.
This year's work, "Tête de Femme (Head of a Woman)" (1941), comes from Opera Gallery, and its attribution is supported by the Picasso Estate and Administration.
“Thanks to the public’s generosity and Picasso’s universal renown, we hope to raise substantial funds to advance research and bring hope to families affected by Alzheimer’s disease,” Fondation Recherche Alzheimer President Dr. Olivier de Ladoucette said in a press release.
