Michael Finkel

A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession

Art Thief

The true story of the world’s most prolific art thief—a spellbinding portrait of obsession and flawed genius, from the bestselling author of The Stranger in the Woods. For centuries, works of art have been stolen in countless ways from all over the world, but no one has been quite as successful at it as the master thief Stéphane Breitwieser. Carrying out more than two hundred heists over nearly ten years—in museums and cathedrals all over Europe—Breitwieser, along with his girlfriend who worked as his lookout, stole more than three hundred objects, until it all fell apart in spectacular fashion. In The Art Thief, Michael Finkel brings us into Breitwieser’s strange and fascinating world. Unlike most thieves, he never stole for money, keeping all his treasures in a single room where he could admire them to his heart’s content. Possessed of a remarkable athleticism and an innate ability to assess practically any security system, Breitwieser managed to pull off a breathtaking number of audacious thefts. Yet these strange talents bred a growing disregard for risk and an addict’s need to score, leading Breitwieser to ignore his girlfriend’s pleas to stop—until one final act of hubris brought everything crashing down. This is a riveting story of art, crime, and an insatiable hunger to possess beauty at any cost.

The Art Thief

L. J.

Art may in fact have a Darwinian basis, perhaps as a way to attract a mate, though many art theorists now believe that the reason for art’s ubiquity is that humanity has overcome natural selection. Art is the result of facing almost no survival pressure at all. It’s the product of leisure times. Our brains, the most complex instruments known in the universe, have been released from the vigilance of evading predators and seeking sustenance, permitting our imagination to gambol and explore, to dream while awake, to share visions of God. Art signals our freedom. It exist because we’ve won the evolutionary war. 

The story of art, Breitwieser says, is a story of of stealing. Egyptian papyri from the early written age decry the menace of tomb raiders. The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II, in 586 BC, hauled off from Jerusalem the Ark of the Covenant. The Persians plundered the Babylonians, the Greeks raided the Persians, the Romans robbed the Greeks. The Vandals binged on the riches of Rome. Francisco Pizarro and Hernán Cortés, in the early sixteenth century, ravaged the Inca and Aztec. Queen Cristina of Sweden seized a thousand paintings from Prague 1648 and paid her generals in artwork. 

There's a longer quote in between that highlights how everyone in the art world is basically complicit in theft in some way. This goes beyond petty looting. 

Auction houses with their price-fixing schemes, entire collections seized during war. Leaves you guessing how much art in the Louvre are actually stolen... the British Museum.. 

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The story of art, Breitwieser says, is a story of stealing...

Some grab works by wiring cash to a dealer; he acquires pieces with a Swiss Army knife.

Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Michael Finkel. /// The true story of the world’s most prolific art thief—a spellbinding portrait of obsession and flawed genius, from the bestselling author of The Stranger in the Woods. For centuries, works of art have been stolen in countless ways from all over the world, but no one has been quite as successful at it as the master thief Stéphane Breitwieser. Carrying out more than two hundred heists over nearly ten years—in museums and cathedrals all over Europe—Breitwieser, along with his girlfriend who worked as his lookout, stole more than three hundred objects, until it all fell apart in spectacular fashion. In The Art Thief, Michael Finkel brings us into Breitwieser’s strange and fascinating world. Unlike most thieves, he never stole for money, keeping all his treasures in a single room where he could admire them to his heart’s content. Possessed of a remarkable athleticism and an innate ability to assess practically any security system, Breitwieser managed to pull off a breathtaking number of audacious thefts. Yet these strange talents bred a growing disregard for risk and an addict’s need to score, leading Breitwieser to ignore his girlfriend’s pleas to stop—until one final act of hubris brought everything crashing down. This is a riveting story of art, crime, and an insatiable hunger to possess beauty at any cost.

Caroline Clutterbuck Kapulkin

If it seems that many of the museums that Breitwieser plunders are dangerously unprotected, that’s because they are...

In regional museums, there’s sometimes an implicit social pact in force. The museum will permit close access to priceless objects that are marginally secured, and the public in turn will leave these objects undisturbed, respectful of the idea that works of communal heritage ... should be open and accessible to all. 

Breitwieser, with the support of Anne-Catherine, is a cancer on this public good. He rewards himself, and deprives everyone else.

Finkel shares the true story of Stephane Bretwieser and the art heists (plural!) that shocked the world in a gorgeous retelling.

I understand some readers didn't like how it almost reads like fiction but me, on the other hand, I had the time of my life. Finkel flawlessly weaves actual investigation findings, the truth about European laws and safeguards on art, and Bretwieser's unreliable perspective into delicious storytelling, you start to forget this brazen series of thefts actually happened in real life. 

Bretwieser started out as an outlier in thievery; his primary purpose for stealing was not for turning a profit but admiring beautiful pieces from the comforts of his attic for free. But after one too many art pieces, historical artifacts, even fine churchware stolen, he starts to become the very thief he despises — stealing art with no regard for its beauty and preservation, and eventually, stealing for the highs of stealing. His once beautiful collection gets uglier as he adds to it and ultimately meets an ugly end; perhaps the biggest tragedy in this story.

You start to think "the sheer audacity of this thief!" but it becomes clear this petty obsession of "borrowing" art has exploded in his face, and he will probably continue to be a menace in the art world until he gets the help he needs. 

He's right about one thing, though — the story of art has always been a story of stealing. His just got caught.

Art world's Bonnie and Clyde?

Finkel shares the true story of Stephane Bretwieser and the art heists (plural!) that shocked the world in a gorgeous retelling.

I understand some readers didn't like how it almost reads like fiction but me, on the other hand, I had the time of my life. Finkel flawlessly weaves actual investigation findings, the truth about European laws and safeguards on art, and Bretwieser's unreliable perspective into delicious storytelling, you start to forget this brazen series of thefts actually happened in real life. 

Bretwieser started out as an outlier in thievery; his primary purpose for stealing was not for turning a profit but admiring beautiful pieces from the comforts of his attic for free. But after one too many art pieces, historical artifacts, even fine churchware stolen, he starts to become the very thief he despises — stealing art with no regard for its beauty and preservation, and eventually, stealing for the highs of stealing. His once beautiful collection gets uglier as he adds to it and ultimately meets an ugly end; perhaps the biggest tragedy in this story.

You start to think "the sheer audacity of this thief!" but it becomes clear this petty obsession of "borrowing" art has exploded in his face, and he will probably continue to be a menace in the art world until he gets the help he needs. 

He's right about one thing, though — the story of art has always been a story of stealing. His just got caught.

Art Thief A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession

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