Paintings by world-renowned artists like Picasso are usually hard to come across and when they do they command eye-popping sums of money (in 2012, Picasso’s Les Femmes d'Alger sold for $181.2M making it one of the top 10 most expensive paintings ever). But thanks to a somewhat unconventional charity lottery, you can become the proud owner of one of the Cubist artist’s works of art valued at $1M. And all you have to do is invest 100 euro (or $111).
In an effort to fundraise money, the French non-profit organization Aider Les Autres has organized an international online raffle in which anyone can purchase a ticket for a chance to win Picasso’s Nature Morte painting. The Spanish master finished the oil painting of a newspaper alongside a glass of absinthe in 1921.
And before you say that this is all too good to be true so it must be a fake. The painting, which has been signed and dated by the artist, actually comes with two certificates of authenticity signed by two of Picasso’s children as well as a detailed list of the painting’s previous owners. Currently, it is displayed in Picasso’s Museum in Paris, on loan from its owner, collector David Nahmad. The draw will take place in Paris on January 6, 2020, and you can watch it live on the organization’s website.
This is the second year in a row that Aider Les Autres has organized the lottery. Last year’s winner was a 25-year old man who works as a project manager in Pennsylvania. He won a drawing by Pablo Picasso, L'Homme au Gibus, which was also valued at $1M.
All the proceeds from the raffle go towards building and rehabilitating wells, washing facilities, and toilets in villages and schools in Cameroun, Madagascar, and Morocco—a project that impacts 200,000 people.
Ready to try your luck? Head this way.
