€100 Picasso Raffle Closes April 14

A French charity foundation is giving art lovers worldwide—including Portugal residents—until Tuesday evening to buy a €100 raffle ticket that could win them a genuine Picasso worth roughly €1M. The painting will be drawn on April 14 at Christie's Paris, with all proceeds funding Alzheimer's research across Europe.

Why This Matters

• Final hours to enter: Tickets close Tuesday, April 14, with the live draw at 5 p.m. Lisbon time (6 p.m. Paris).

• 120,000 tickets available: By late March, roughly two-thirds had sold, meaning spaces are filling fast.

• Up to €12M raised: Every cent beyond the gallery's €1M acquisition fee goes to the Fondation Recherche Alzheimer, France's largest private Alzheimer's funder.

• Global accessibility: Purchase online from anywhere, with no geographic restrictions.

The Painting: A Wartime Picasso

The prize is Tête de Femme ("Woman's Head"), a 1941 gouache on paper depicting a woman in somber monochrome tones. According to Olivier Widmaier Picasso, the artist's grandson, the portrait represents Dora Maar, Picasso's lover and muse during one of his darkest periods. The work was created in the same Parisian studio where Picasso painted Guernica, and Olivier insists the piece is "worth far more than the €1M estimate," making it an extraordinary win for whoever holds the lucky number.

The painting has been held by Spain's Opera Gallery, which will receive €1M from the total pot. The remainder—potentially €11M if all tickets sell—flows directly to Alzheimer's research initiatives spanning clinical trials, early diagnosis biomarkers, and precision-medicine therapies.

How the Raffle Works

Participants buy a single €100 entry via the official website. There is no limit per person, but the global cap is 120,000 tickets. Sales opened in late November and have accelerated as the draw date nears; organizers reported approximately 80,000 sold by late March.

The draw will be supervised by a huissier de justice (bailiff) at Christie's auction house in Paris and broadcast live online. Winners will be contacted immediately and must arrange shipping or collection; the foundation covers insurance during transit but not import duties or taxes, which vary by destination country.

Participating From Portugal

For those in Portugal wanting to participate, this raffle offers access to a major art acquisition opportunity typically reserved for wealthy collectors and institutions. Participation is straightforward: anyone with a credit card and an internet connection can purchase tickets online.

Winners should be aware that importing artwork into the EU involves standard customs procedures and may carry tax implications depending on the destination country. Winners inherit provenance documentation and a Christie's authenticity certificate, which are essential for future resale or loan to museums.

A Proven Fundraising Model

This is part of a "1 Picasso for €100" series conceived by French television producer Péri Cochin. The Fondation Recherche Alzheimer has invested €23M in research since 2004, funding doctoral contracts, postdoctoral fellowships, and high-tech lab equipment across France and partner institutions. The foundation's annual call for projects prioritizes early-detection biomarkers, tau-protein imaging, and gene-therapy trials—areas where private funding has historically plugged gaps left by state budgets.

By structuring the raffle as a charitable lottery rather than a commercial sweepstakes, the foundation sidesteps complex EU gambling regulations. French law permits such fundraisers provided the organizing entity is a registered charity, ticket sales are transparent, and proceeds are audited. Residents of any EU country, including Portugal, face no legal obstacles to participation; the transaction is governed by French consumer-protection statutes, and the foundation's website meets GDPR data-handling requirements.

The Odds and the Economics

With 120,000 tickets and a single winner, your chance of claiming the Picasso is roughly 1 in 120,000—or 0.0008%. By comparison, Portugal's Euromilhões jackpot odds are approximately 1 in 140M. From a mathematical standpoint, if all tickets sell, the pool is €12M, the prize is worth €1M, and each €100 ticket has an expected value of approximately €8.33—representing a loss of roughly €91.67 per ticket. The charitable component, however, means funds directly support Alzheimer's research, adding value beyond the odds-based calculation.

For perspective, €100 is equivalent to a month's mobile-phone contract in Lisbon or a mid-range dinner for two in Porto. It is also roughly 0.01% of the painting's appraised value, making this one of the lowest entry barriers ever recorded for a Picasso acquisition.

Cultural and Historical Context

Picasso painted Tête de Femme during the German occupation of Paris, a period marked by material shortages, censorship, and personal turmoil. The monochrome palette and angular composition reflect the Cubist fragmentation and emotional distress that defined his wartime output. Dora Maar herself was a surrealist photographer and intellectual who documented much of Picasso's process; their relationship ended in 1943, and many art historians view this portrait as a visual record of their unraveling bond.

Owning such a piece means stewarding a fragment of 20th-century European history. Portuguese museums—including the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian and the Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea—have limited Picasso holdings, so a private collector would possess a rare asset.

Final Window to Enter

Tickets remain on sale until 11:59 p.m. (Lisbon time) on Tuesday, April 14. The draw begins at 5 p.m. Lisbon time (6 p.m. Paris) and will be streamed on the foundation's website and YouTube channel. Organizers estimate the broadcast will last 15–20 minutes, including the random-number generation, bailiff certification, and winner announcement.

For anyone considering participation, the decision hinges on three variables: tolerance for long-shot odds, appetite for charitable giving, and logistics around international art acquisition. If all three align, the next 48 hours represent a narrow window to act.