Chance to Own a Picasso Paints Big Picture for Alzheimer’s Research

31 December 2025

Pablo Picasso’s 1941 watercolour Tête de femme, valued at €1m, on display at Christie’s auction house in Paris. Photograph: Benoît Tessier/Reuters

A remarkable new charity initiative has turned one of the 20th century’s most iconic artists into an unlikely beacon of hope for medical science by offering anyone in the world the chance to own a Pablo Picasso painting for the price of a modest ticket. The Alzheimer’s Research Foundation in France has launched an unprecedented global raffle dubbed “1 Picasso for 100 Euros”, inviting participants to buy a ticket for €100 with the possibility of winning a genuine Picasso while helping fund research into Alzheimer’s disease. The centrepiece of the campaign is Tête de femme, a 1941 portrait by Picasso valued at more than €1 million, and the event has quickly captured the imagination of art lovers and philanthropists alike.

Picasso’s name has long been synonymous with the pinnacle of modern art, his works routinely commanding staggering sums at auction and family collections alike. Traditionally, owning an original by the Spanish master has been the reserve of wealthy collectors and institutions, with pieces selling for millions. This raffle upends that expectation by offering a narrow but thrilling possibility: for just €100, you could walk away with a masterpiece by one of the most influential artists of his era, and your ticket price would contribute directly to life-saving research. Organizers hope to sell up to 120,000 tickets worldwide, raising around €11 million in total for the foundation’s work.

The idea for the charity raffle came from French television producer Péri Cochin, who envisioned a global fundraising model that leveraged the universal appeal of art. Cochin, who also owns a tableware company, drew inspiration from the fundraising events her mother used to host, but she wanted to do something with far greater reach and impact. Aligning with the Picasso estate and the Alzheimer’s Research Foundation, she set about creating a mechanism by which art could serve a noble cause in a novel way.

The result is an online ticketing system that allows participants from many countries to enter the draw, with the winner to be announced at a ceremony at Christie’s auction house in Paris on April 14, 2026. If ticket sales fail to reach the necessary threshold to cover the painting’s value, organizers have pledged to refund all participants, ensuring fairness in this innovative experiment.

Support for the raffle has come from within Picasso’s own family, most notably his grandson Olivier Picasso, who has spoken publicly about his grandfather’s lesser-known generosity. Olivier notes that Picasso was quietly philanthropic throughout his life, assisting friends and family and offering support during turbulent times such as the Spanish Civil War and World War II. For him, the idea of using Picasso’s art to support Alzheimer’s research now is a natural extension of that legacy.

Alzheimer’s disease is a condition that affects millions of people worldwide, robbing individuals of memory and independence, and the foundation’s work focuses on advancing scientific understanding and developing interventions to combat the disease’s progression. Olivier has expressed hope that this initial fundraiser might be the first of many, with the potential to make an ongoing contribution to a global health challenge that continues to elude a cure.

The artwork selected for this year’s raffle, Tête de femme (translated as Head of a Woman), was painted in 1941, during a notably complex period in Picasso’s personal and artistic life. It is believed to have been created in the same Paris studio where he later worked on his monumental anti-war mural Guernica, but its mood and palette reflect the tensions of the era, with more sombre tones and introspective composition. The piece comes from the collection of Opera Gallery, which partnered with the foundation to make it available for the raffle, and will be transferred to the lucky winner after the draw’s conclusion.

This initiative marks the third time a Picasso work has been used in a charity raffle of this nature. Previous raffles in 2013 and 2020 were similarly successful, raising millions for international causes including cultural preservation and humanitarian relief efforts. In the first iteration a young American won an early 20th-century Picasso drawing, and in the second a woman from Italy became the owner of a piece valued at around €1 million after receiving a ticket as a holiday gift. These stories have helped fuel excitement around the 2026 event, giving life to the idea that art can have both personal and philanthropic value far beyond its aesthetic appeal.

As the countdown to the April drawing continues, ticket sales remain open, inviting art enthusiasts and supporters of medical research alike to participate in what may be one of the most memorable and meaningful art raffles of the decade. For many, the opportunity to engage with Picasso’s legacy in this way offers not only a chance at ownership of an iconic work but also a sense of contribution to a cause that touches families around the globe. The buzz surrounding the raffle underscores how the power of art can transcend traditional markets and become a force for social good, engaging a worldwide audience in a shared mission to find answers to one of the most pressing health issues of our time.