Revealed: The World's Most Valuable Art Collections And The Men Who Own Them

HONG KONG, May 14, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- American media mogul David Geffen's US$2.3 billion art collection tops a Wealth-X list of the ten most valuable private art collections that features mostly US-based billionaire collectors, and some from France.

The combined value of the art collections of the ten individuals on the list, whose total net worth is US$61.9 billion, is US$15.1 billion.

Wealth-X, the world's leading ultra high net worth intelligence and prospecting firm, has put together the list in time for the first series of this year's Art Basel shows, which kicks off in Hong Kong on Wednesday.

Below are the top five billionaire collectors on the list:

* figures in US$

Geffen, a Dreamworks Animation co-founder, has an estimated net worth of US$6.3 billion. He is said to have one of the world's largest private art collections, consisting mostly of works by American artists from the second half of the 20^th century including Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning.

In second spot is American philanthropist Eli Broad, whose personal art collection is worth US$2.2 billion. Broad, with a net worth of US$6.9 billion, and his wife Edythe are building The Broad, a contemporary art museum in downtown Los Angeles that will house nearly 2,000 artworks from the Broad Art Foundation and the Broads' private collections, which are regarded as among the most significant holdings of postwar and contemporary art worldwide.

At number six, French business tycoon Francois Pinault's art collection is valued at US$1.4 billion, although his personal fortune (US$14 billion) is the highest among the collectors on the Wealth-X list. Pinault's personal collection of more than 2,000 pieces includes works by Picasso, Mondrian and Jeff Koons. Pinault serves as the president of Palazzo Grassi, an art collection centre that houses his art collection.

Download the full list at http://www.wealthx.com/articles/2014/top-10-most-valuable-private-art-collections/

About Wealth-X   
Wealth-X is the world's leading ultra high net worth (UHNW) intelligence and prospecting firm with the largest collection of curated research on UHNW individuals, defined as those with net assets of US$30 million and above. Headquartered in Singapore, it has 13 offices on five continents. (www.wealthx.com)

SOURCE Wealth-X