Picasso masterpiece said to be worth millions to be sold for less than £90

James Saunders
Sun, 12 Apr 2026 06:25:10 +0000

A Picasso masterpiece said to be worth millions of pounds could soon be sold for just £87.

A leading auction house is raffling off tickets for one of the Spanish artist's portraits for charity - with tickets up for grabs at €100.

The "1 Picasso for 100 euros" competition gives participants the chance to win the artist's 1941 gouache work "Tete de Femme".

The draw takes place at famed auction house Christie's in Paris on Tuesday, with 120,000 tickets available.

All money raised will go to the Alzheimer's Research Foundation, which funds clinical studies into the disease throughout Europe.

The Opera Gallery donated the artwork, officially valued at £850,000, for the charitable initiative.

Picasso created the piece in Paris while the Second World War engulfed Europe and German forces occupied much of France.

The work was painted in the same studio where the Spanish master produced his celebrated work "Guernica".

Olivier Widmaier Picasso, the artist's grandson, told CNN that the painting may even be worth more than the six-figure valuation.

"It's worth much more than $1million," Mr Widmaier Picasso said, "so it will be really a big prize."

The gouache measures around 38 centimetres tall and 25 centimetres wide.

It depicts a woman's face rendered in grey tones, deliberately distorted in the artist's distinctive Cubist manner.

The raffle concept came from Picasso's grandson, who envisioned a new approach to philanthropy.

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"She thought it was a modern vision of charity by offering people the option to get a real artwork of my grandfather and to participate in humanitarian operations," he said.

This marks the third time the initiative has taken place.

The inaugural "1 Picasso for 100 euros" event came in 2013, raising funds to preserve Tyre, an ancient Lebanese city.

A second edition followed in 2020, directing proceeds towards clean water and sanitation programmes during the pandemic's peak.

Mr Widmaier Picasso believes his grandfather would have embraced this charitable venture.

"My grandfather was a pioneer in many ways," he said. "I think that he was always very interested in participating in new things. I would say that today he would have been interested in video or maybe in artificial intelligence."

The lucky winner faces no restrictions on what they do with the artwork.

"Anyone can do what they want," he said. "They can keep it in the living room, they can show it in an exhibition — or they can resell it."

The victor from the 2013 draw chose to display their prize in a museum.