Somebody out there is making money, despite all the doom-and-gloom news about the global economy.

The Financial Times reports that British art auctioneers Sotheby’s and Christie’s are predictiung a bumper sale of artworks this month. Together they estimate they will sell about $790m in artworks over 10 days at the sales of Impressionist, Modern and contemporary art.

The FT puts the rise in art sales down to the boom in oil and other commodities — money-laden oil barons, it seems, love nothing more than spending ludicrous amounts of cash on old paintings.