Ari Hodara, 58, discovered he was the winner on Tuesday when he answered a video call from Christie’s in Paris, where the draw took place. Speaking moments after being informed of the result, he initially expressed disbelief, asking whether the call might be a prank.

More than 120,000 tickets were sold worldwide at €100 each, raising about €11m for charitable causes, organisers said. The raffle, titled 1 Picasso for 100 euros, was launched in 2013 to combine art patronage with philanthropy and has now been held three times.

This year’s prize was Tête de Femme (Head of a Woman), a 1941 gouache-on-paper portrait executed in Picasso’s distinctive cubist style. The work depicts Dora Maar, the artist’s partner and muse at the time.

“I was surprised, that’s it,” Hodara said during a phone call with auctioneers after the draw. “When you take part in something like this, you don’t expect to win. But I’m very happy. I’m very interested in paintings, and this is great news for me.”

Hodara, whose ticket number was 94,715, said he purchased it over the weekend after coming across the competition by chance.

The raffle was organised by French journalist Peri Cochin with the support of Picasso’s family and foundation. She welcomed the fact that the winner lives in Paris, noting that it would simplify the delivery of the artwork. The French capital is closely associated with Picasso, who spent much of his life working there, and hosts thousands of his works in public collections.

Of the funds raised, €1m will go to Opera Gallery, which owned the painting, while the remaining proceeds will be donated to France’s Alzheimer’s Research Foundation. The foundation’s head, Olivier de Ladoucette, said the initiative represented another step towards combating the disease, according to Agence France-Presse.

The first edition of the raffle, held in 2013, was won by a 25-year-old American from Pennsylvania, with proceeds used to help preserve the Lebanese city of Tyre, a Unesco World Heritage Site. The second draw, in 2020, was won by an Italian accountant after her son bought her a ticket as a Christmas gift, with funds supporting sanitation projects in Cameroon, Madagascar and Morocco.