A restaurateur and property tycoon has decided to rename his Picasso painting “Annabel” after his nightclub.
The move has seen Richard Caring, who owns Annabel’s in Mayfair, central London, criticised by art historians for presenting the painting in a “fake context”.
Mr Caring, who also owns Le Caprice and The Ivy, is rumoured to have paid between £20 million and £30m for The Girl with a Red Beret and Pompom last year.
A source from the club, which is scheduled to re-open next month after a £55m refurbishment, told The Mail on Sunday: “We know it’s a very beautiful painting and a very important one, but it was just too tempting not to rename it Annabel.”
