Art appreciation has grown over the years evident with more people buying art works.

Major auction houses such as Christie's and Sotheby's have seen record prices when it comes to selling artwork.

A Wealth-X report said of the world's 2,170 billionaires, the average amount for owning an art collection is worth US$31 million, or 0.5 per cent of their net worth.

However, the big players, who make up the top ten billionaire art buyers, have an average 18 per cent of their net worth invested in art.

"Many wealthy collectors initially start buying art to decorate their houses and fill wall space. They continue to collect and soon run out of walls and a passion has been born," explained Hannah Blakemore, a Hong Kong-based art adviser to Wealth-X, a global ultra high net worth (UHNW) prospecting, intelligence and wealth due diligence firm headquartered in Singapore.

"Often big collectors will then publicly display their collections and create private museums to showcase their acquired works. Their wealthy friends will come to them for advice on what art to buy, and how to buy it, and soon they are buying works for their friends and helping them get access to significant pieces, and before they know it they are submerged in the art world."

See who made Wealth-X's top 10 billionaire art collectors here.

Photos: Internet, Bloomberg, AFP, Wikimedia