I ALWAYS believed that, if god gave you a brain, it was there to be used.

However, after learning of the results of a Christie’s art sale in America, I am under the impression that so-called art lovers are told what to believe and not what they think they believe. The mind boggles when you think that £38m was paid for a canvas covered with paint drippings and £32m for Basquiat’s Dustheads, a painting by a graffiti artist similar to efforts we see on the walls of most nurseries.

I always believed that art evolved from someone with a paintbrush and a natural talent and not from some Walter Mitty fantasist who tries to brainwash his clients.

T Seale, Middlesbrough.