Paintings by Scottish artists John Bellany and Peter Howson are among the art works in David Bowie's personal collection to be sold at a £10m auction later this year.

Bowie was an aficionado of both painters, particularly Bellany (1942-2013), who he counted among his favourite artists, and was believed to have owned more than a dozen of his paintings.

Now works by both painters are part of the treasure trove of 20th century art, including works by Damien Hirst, Frank Auerbach and Jean-Michel Basquiat which are to be exhibited and then sold at Sotheby's in London.

It marks the first time the personal art collection of Bowie, who died in January, has been seen in public.

Nearly 400 items from his collection are to be sold at a series of auctions, with 267 paintings and 120 items of furniture and design.

The three sales, in November, are said to be valued in excess of £10m and includes a major work in Basquiat's Air Power, which has an estimate of up to £3.5m.

Bowie's personal record player will also be put up for auction.

Bowie had such an appreciation of Bellany's work that he visited Port Seton, East Lothian, where Bellany grow up and whose fishing industry inspired so much of his art, more than once.

Bellany once said: "He comes to Port Seton a lot. He told me he goes with a 'reverent feeling' to try and find out what might have inspired the paintings in his collection.

"One time he was staying at the Caley [Caledonian] Hotel in Edinburgh and he came to our flat for dinner."I asked him, 'Well, David, what have you been up to the day' He said: 'I've been down to Port Seton again and talk about co-incidence! Right next door to your old house is one called 'Dar es Salaam' The funny thing is I've just fallen in love with a girl from Dar es Salaam and you'll meet her next time I'm here." "This, of course, was Iman, now Bowie's supermodel wife."

Howson created drawings of Bowie in 1994 when Bowie posed for him at his London studio.

They became friends after Bowie bought two paintings of the Bosnian war by the artist.

Howson and Bowie's friendship continued after they worked together.

Sketches of Bowie by Howson were among an auction in 2013 in Glasgow.

Bowie, who painted, was an avid fan of visual art, and once said: "Art was, seriously, the only thing I’d ever wanted to own. It has always been for me a stable nourishment. I use it.

"It can change the way I feel in the mornings. The same work can change me in different ways, depending on what I’m going through."

Sotheby's said that art collection was "something he kept almost entirely hidden from public view."

Other works in the collection, to be shown in an exhibition called Bowie/Collector, include pieces by Henry Moore, Graham Sutherland, 'outsider art', surrealism, contemporary African art, Italian designer Ettore Sottsass and the Memphis Group, a group of Italian designers.

The November exhibition will be preceded by a series of shows around the world, starting with a three-week exhibition of works in London this summer, running from 20 July until 9 August.

Further exhibitions will follow in Los Angeles, New York and Hong Kong.

A spokesman for the estate of David Bowie said: “David’s art collection was fuelled by personal interest and compiled out of passion.

"He always sought and encouraged loans from the collection and enjoyed sharing the works in his custody.

"Though his family are keeping certain pieces of particular significance, it is now time to give others the opportunity to appreciate – and acquire – the art and objects he so admired.”

Hirst's work 'Beautiful, Shattering, Slashing, Violent, Pinky, Hacking, Sphincter Painting' is expected to fetch £250,000 to £350,000.

Bowie, in 1994, joined the invitation-only editorial board of Modern Painters magazine, for which he interviewed artists including Hirst, Jeff Koons and Tracey Emin.

Simon Hucker, senior specialist in modern and post-war British art at Sotheby's, said: "As a collector, Bowie looked for artists with whom he felt some connection, and for works that had the power to move or inspire him.

"This is what led him to British art of the early and mid-20th century in particular, which, of course, also led him home."