The Art Thief
A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession
Ratings38
Average rating4
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • One of the most remarkable true-crime narratives of the twenty-first century: the story of the world’s most prolific art thief, Stéphane Breitwieser. • “The Art Thief, like its title character, has confidence, élan, and a great sense of timing."—The New Yorker A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Lit Hub "Enthralling." —The Wall Street Journal In this spellbinding portrait of obsession and flawed genius, the best-selling author of The Stranger in the Woods brings us into Breitwieser’s strange world—unlike most thieves, he never stole for money, keeping all his treasures in a single room where he could admire them. 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 eight 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, Breitwieser never stole for money. Instead, he displayed all his treasures in a pair of secret rooms where he could admire them to his heart’s content. Possessed of a remarkable athleticism and an innate ability to circumvent 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, love, and an insatiable hunger to possess beauty at any cost.
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What a sad story. The “accomplishment” is astounding, but the story is flat. There is no redemption, no character qualities to emulate, ultimately it feels like a story that shouldn't be told.
Unrelated but something that I wish it had were pictures of the characters. There is a center section with pictures of some of the art work stolen but there are no photos of the characters. There are drawing of the attic rooms where he stashed his loot, but no photos. I want to leave this story with the last page of the book but feel weirdly compelled to finish the story by googling the characters. I think I will abstain.
Should you read it, meh.
I just finished The Art Thief by Michael Finkel and here is my review.
Art is always stolen. Usually in violent ways but this is not how the master thief Stéphane Breitwieser, he was a daytime thief, stealing works of art right out from under the noses of security and the patrons around him. How did he get away with stealing hundreds of pieces of works of art? He never sold them. He collected them to keep and the only person who knew was his girlfriend.
They stole for over 8 years until it all came to an abrupt end. They managed to do things that no other art thief had ever done before and it was pure ego that brought it all to a crashing halt.
The sheer gall of these wannabe Bonnie and Clyde is enough to keep you turning the pages of this biography. I don't usually read bios but this one literally fully emerged into the art world and I am a huge art lover and artist myself. It's so interesting to know that even in the 90s it really was quite easy to walk away with pieces of art during the day. These two had a great dynamic and trust in each other's abilities that you have to appreciate how clever it all was.
I found it a little dry. It was a little monotonal but the whole book was rather fascinating that it didn't stop me reading it in one sitting. I loved the pictures of the art that was stolen in the middle. I got a real feel for what kind of art was catching his eye and what kind of person he was from the types of things he chose. He starts to get really arrogant and this is their undoing. It is interesting to read the psychological aspects of the bio as well. I felt that added real value to a really well researched book.
It sent me down a rabbit hole and I love books that do that.
4 stars!
Thank you to @penguinrandomhouseca for my gifted copy!
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I can't cap I didn't realize it was a true story til like halfway through. Instantly made the story 10x cooler. Super interesting read. Gonna go steal the Mona Lisa now fr.
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