“There’s a theory, of course, that good art is the most expensive art, but I wouldn’t necessarily say that anyone really believes this any more. I watched a sappy-looking Renoir go under the hammer on Monday for £6.1 million, but it was hard to follow the bidding owing to the fact that it was almost drowned out by the snorts of derision from the people around me. And on Tuesday an unspectacular oil by Morisot went for four times the estimate, largely because, so the expert next to me believed, it featured a small fluffy cat.”