Picasso lottery to help needy countries

Name: WORLD
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The winner of a raffle by Christie’s Paris could own a painting by Pablo Picasso for less than the cost of a trip on an airplane. The auction house sold tickets for 100 euros ($109) each for a chance to win the 1921 oil on canvas Nature Morte in a drawing on Wednesday. Pandemic restrictions in France delayed the event by eight weeks. Christie’s said it sold only 50,000 tickets, one-fourth of the anticipated 200,000, due to the pandemic.

Will the drawing aid the fight against COVID-19? Raffle organizers said they raised $5.4 million to provide access to clean water—an essential for washing hands and staying healthy during the pandemic—to communities in Cameroon, Madagascar, and Morocco. The majority of the buyers are from France, Italy, Switzerland, and the United States.

Dig deeper: Read Myrna Brown’s report in Muse about how Christian music artists stay connected with audiences during the pandemic.

Onize Oduah

Onize is WORLD’s Africa reporter and deputy global desk chief. She is a World Journalism Institute graduate and earned a journalism degree from Minnesota State University–Moorhead. Onize resides in Abuja, Nigeria.

@onize_ohiks