Woman wins Picasso painting worth €1m in raffle
- Published
Raffle organiser Peri Cochin with Picasso's 1921 oil painting Nature Morte
An Italian woman has won a painting by Pablo Picasso, worth about €1m (£900,000; $1.1m), in a raffle after being given the ticket as a gift.
The winning ticket was pulled out during a live draw at Christie's auction house in Paris.
The event, which was fundraising for Care charity, had been postponed twice - first to sell more tickets, and then because of coronavirus restrictions.
The prize painting, Nature Morte, is a still life from 1921.
It is a relatively small artwork - measuring 9in by 18in (23cm by 46cm) - which shows a glass of absinthe and a newspaper on a table.
In total €5.1m was raised for the charity by selling 51,000 raffle tickets at €100 each. About 29% of the tickets were sold in France, followed by the US and Switzerland.
Organisers said that €4.2m of proceeds will go towards clean water projects in schools and villages in Madagascar, Morocco and Cameroon.
David Nahmad, the billionaire collector from Monaco who supplied the Picasso painting, will be given €900,000. He also donated €100,000 to Care, organisers said.
"Picasso would have loved an operation like this, because he was someone with a lot of interest in humanitarian and social causes," sale organiser Peri Cochin told Reuters news agency.
"This coronavirus crisis has made it clear how important it is to wash your hands, and that can only be done with clear water."
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