Of all the tangible assets, of which the most prominent are gold, precious stones, antiques and art, this last seems to be the most enigmatic and obscure to high net worth individuals.

More than half of wealth managers - 56 per cent - polled by a recent Capgemini survey said that the opaque, unregulated and illiquid nature of the art market was a turn-off for high net worth investors.

Despite the fact that the relationship between art and investment is a historical one, fears among wealthy investors might not be irrational, as buying art for investment purposes requires a different knowledge base to picking stocks for example. While this might not mean a crash course in art history, the serious investor should perhaps know more than the difference between Botticelli and Van Gogh, or Kapoor and Emin.  

Indeed, 72 per cent of respondents surveyed seek specialised investment information and deeper levels of advice on physical assets, particularly what are termed as “passion investments”. A majority (63 per cent) of wealth managers said HNW individuals were likely to increase their investments in art if they had access to seasoned advice on the art market.

The figures show slightly more enthusiasm amongst ultra high net worth individuals, who have allocated more to art collections than HNW individuals: 25 per cent and 21 per cent respectively of "passion investments". Indeed despite these times of uncertain financial markets, there have been surprising record auction prices recently: in New York a Picasso canvas sold for $106.5 million; in London a Giacometti sculpture went for $104.3 million; in Paris a Modigliani sculpture brought in $52.6 million.  

Passion investments include jewellery, gems and watches, collectibles such as wine and antiques, luxury collectibles such as jets, sports investments and miscellaneous items such as musical instruments. Regionally, Europeans and Latin Americans spent more on art, Americans and Japanese spent the most on luxury collectibles and in Asia and the Middle East the greatest emphasis was on jewellery, gems and watches.

“A significant percentage of financial advisors, 29.8 per cent, responded that art, of all investments of passion, was the most widely considered as another form of financial investment - the wealthy are investing in this category for financial benefit. For advisors to European investors, the percentage was even higher at 37.4 per cent,” said Ileana van der Linde, who managed the research.

The survey spanned 71 countries and included interviews with 1,200 wealth managers serving 150,000 clients.