New York's spring art auction season draws to a close on Friday with a sale at Phillips after a frenzied two weeks that saw Christie's and Sotheby's set a sales record.
Various media reports placed some of the world's top collectors in the audiences at these auctions.
Combined sales of Impressionist, modern and contemporary art at Christie's and Sotheby's, the two premier auction houses, brought in $2 billion, passing the $1.8 billion in sales last fall and breaking records for at least three dozen artists, according to The Wall Street Journal.
However, none of the action overshadowed the drama at Christie's last fall, when a collector paid some $142 million for a 1969 Francis Bacon painting that had been estimated at a high of $85 million.
Collectors during the current sales season kept their bidding in the mid- to low range of the art works estimates, The Journal reported.
It's likely many collectors will show up at this year's three Art Basel shows, the first of which opened Wednesday in Hong Kong.
In anticipation of those shows, Wealth-X, the ultra-high-net-worth intelligence and prospecting firm, has put together a list of the 10 biggest art collections in the world.
The combined value of these collections is $15.1 billion. Their owners' total net worth is $61.9 billion.
Following is the Wealth-X top 10 list.
10. NORMAN BRAMAN, former owner of the Philadelphia Eagles football team and the owner of several car dealerships
Value of Art Collection: $1 billion
Net Worth: $1.8 billion
According to Forbes, Braman has a 240-plus-piece art collection that includes the largest private collection of Alexander Calder's work.
9. BIDZINA IVANISHVILI, prime minister of Georgia who made his fortune in metals and banking
Value of Art Collection: $1 billion
Net Worth: $5.7 billion
Ivanishvili's extensive collection includes "Dora Maar with Cat" by Pablo Picasso, which he bought at Sotheby's in 2006 for $95 million, according to Forbes.
8. SAMUEL NEWHOUSE, chairman and CEO of Advance Publications in New York, which he and his brother Donald inherited from their father
Value of Art Collection: $1 billion
Net Worth: $10.2 billion
Forbes reports that "Si" Newhouse owns an extensive collection of modern art.
7. STEVEN COHEN, founder of SAC Capital Advisors
Value of Art Collection: $1 billion
Net Worth: $11.1 billion
Cohen's art collection includes works by Warhol, Picasso (his "La Reve" seen above), Cézanne, de Kooning, Damien Hirst, Francis Bacon, Jeff Koons and Gerhard Richter, according to Vanity Fair.
