Becoming an artist was the gamble of a lifetime for Pablo Picasso, who in the early days poverty and obscurity was forced to burn his own paintings just to stay warm.
But the Spanish genius rose from provincial penury to be the doyen of the Parisian art world, and ultimately harnessed his talent and international fame to aid the oppressed.
His family are now calling on the British people to also take a risk and, with their famed love of a flutter, gamble on the chance to win one of the great painter’s £1 million works for the cost of a raffle ticket.
The Cubist pioneer’s descendants hope a Picasso could hang in a UK living room following a new prize draw, which seeks to raise almost £20 million for charity this Christmas.
Anyone who can front the cost of a £80 (€100) ticket could win a signed painting donated for the draw, and Picasso’s family are counting on the UK show solidarity with the painter, and indulge in a bet.
Top 10 | Most expensive Picasso paintings sold at auction
“People are able to spend one million, ten million, or one hundred million,” the artist’s grandson Olivier Picasso told The Daily Telegraph.
“It’s the price of an emotion, it’s really something that you can feel when you are facing an artwork, in a museum or an art gallery.
“But this time maybe it’s a chance to have it in your living room.”
The Frenchman explained the temptation of this prospect to British art lovers: “Gambling is your national sport.”
Patrick Gaillardin /Patrick Gaillardin
The vast canvass of Guernica was toured around the world to highlight an atrocity in the Spanish Civil War, as Picasso belatedly politicised his genius to help others. It is hoped that his paintings can again be put to use outside elegant galleries, this time for the impoverished communities of Africa
A 1921 work, titled Nature Morte, featuring an obscured newspaper, has been selected for this task. The painting, valued at £1 million, will be the prize for the charity draw, which anyone can enter for the cost of a ticket. Proceeds will be invested in securing clean water.
“My grandfather was very concerned about helping people,” said his grandson, the child of the painter’s daughter Maya. “He was very poor when he left Spain to come to Paris. He was obliged to burn some paintings just to put something in the fireplace.
“I think he would have been very happy, I hope he would have been proud.”
Olivier’s uncle Claude Picasso called the Christmas project: “A way for our family to continue Picasso’s own commitment to the poor.”
The 1 Picasso for 100 Euros project is set to become an annual event, which inverts the soaring prices of the painter’s work, making them accessible, and wedded to charity.
“I think it’s quite revolutionary,” organiser Peri Cochin said in the Picasso Museum in Paris, where the prize painting currently hangs.
It is hoped British generosity could see it travel across the Channel.
Patrick Gaillardin /Patrick Gaillardin
Ms Cochin said: “It’s in their genes: if they can do something nice, I’m sure they can do it.”
She added on British tastes: “They bet on everything. Who’s going to win the football, everything.
“Here you have the generosity, and the chance to win a great piece from a great painter.”
It is hoped that the 200,000 available raffle tickets will be sold to generate almost £20 million for Care, which with numeric neatness with help 200,000 people in Cameroon, Madagascar and Morocco.
Philippe Leveque, managing director of Care France, believes people can stand in charitable comradeship with the great artist.
"This is a chain of solidarity with Picasso," he said.
The draw for the competition will take place at Christie’s in Paris on January 6. Entrants for the draw can apply online.
Click Here: New Zealand rugby store