Whilst the hallowed halls of internationally renowned galleries and museums like The Louvre, The Guggenheim, The Lisson Gallery and Victoria Miro are lined with plenty of artistic innovation and splendour, many of the world’s most impressive masterpieces aren’t to be found in the public domain, but in the private homes of wealthy individuals and families. Whilst some of these private art collections loan out pieces to institutions they admire on a temporary or long-term basis, many of them are housed in exclusive spaces and are unlikely to be accessible to the general public anytime soon. We decided to take a look at who owns the world’s top private art collections and what treasures do they encompass?
Ezra and David Nahmad
Value: $3 billion
The art collection of the Nahmad brothers is generally considered to be one of the most valuable, if not the most valuable, art collections in the world. Having built their wealth through their work in the gambling and investment banking industries, they started their foray into the art world in the 1960s. Initial dealings led them to cubist painters like George Braques and Pablo Picasso, but today their collection features a wide range of mediums, periods and styles.
King Charles II
Value: Unconfirmed
With over a million objects in King Charles’s collection, it is one of the largest in the world. It is dispersed between 13 royal residences and palaces and includes over 7,000 paintings, approximately 450,000 photographs and “700,000 works of art, including tapestries, furniture, ceramics, textiles, carriages, weapons, armour, jewellery, clocks, musical instruments, tableware, plants, manuscripts, books and sculptures”. Many of the pieces belong to the Crown itself, having been purchased by previous monarchs over the last 500 years and over 3,000 pieces are on loan to museums and exhibitions around the world.
Steve Cohen
Value: $1 billion
Widely considered to be one of the most respected and prolific art collectors in the world, investor and hedge fund manager Steve Cohen has spent hundreds of millions on collating a truly astonishing body of artworks. His tastes are quite varied and he has an extensive Post-War and contemporary section as well as several Modern and Post-Impressionist paintings including works from Van Gogh and Gaugin and Munch’s Madonna.
François Pinault
Value: $1.4 billion
There are almost 2,500 works included in the extraordinary art collection of this renowned French billionaire. Having been a collector for over 30 years, he has amassed a vast selection of modern and contemporary art works that includes pieces from artists like Damien Hirst, Lucio Fontana, Jeff Koons and Mark Rothko. Luckily for the general public, much of his collection can be viewed at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice.
David Geffen
Value: $2.3 billion
As the founder of Dreamworks Animation and Asylum Records, David Geffen is a well known and highly successful businessman and he has parlayed much of his accumulated wealth into curating one of the world’s most prominent private art collections. Skilled at both buying and selling, the value of his compilation is quite extraordinary and it is known to “hold one of the best representations of Post-War American art including the likes of Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning”.
Artistry, Commerce, and Collecting: Sotheby's Expertise
Our expressions of creativity and imagination tell a unique story and offer insight into the themes of our times. But art is also a multi-billion dollar industry, as these collections will attest, and one that is often associated with great stature and prominence. Taste in art may be subjective, but its value is often enduring, leaving a swathe of opportunities for prospective buyers and collectors to create their own haven to celebrate the artistic expressions that speak to them. If you are interested in developing your own art collection or want to find out more about how best to sell pieces from your portfolio, please get in touch with the experts at Sotheby’s Auction House in London today.
