The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • One of the most remarkable true-crime narratives of the twenty-first century • “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
Stéphane Bréitwieser is the most prolific art thief of all time.
He pulled off more than 200 heists, often in crowded museums in broad daylight.
His girlfriend served as his accomplice.
His collection was worth an estimated $2 billion.
He never sold a piece, displaying his stolen art in his attic bedroom.
He felt like a king.
Until everything came to a shocking end.
In this spellbinding portrait of obsession and flawed genius, Michael Finkel gives us one of the most remarkable true-crime narratives of our times, a riveting story of art, theft, love, and an insatiable hunger to possess beauty at any cost.
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Lit Hub
"Enthralling." —The Wall Street Journal
Stéphane Bréitwieser is the most prolific art thief of all time.
He pulled off more than 200 heists, often in crowded museums in broad daylight.
His girlfriend served as his accomplice.
His collection was worth an estimated $2 billion.
He never sold a piece, displaying his stolen art in his attic bedroom.
He felt like a king.
Until everything came to a shocking end.
In this spellbinding portrait of obsession and flawed genius, Michael Finkel gives us one of the most remarkable true-crime narratives of our times, a riveting story of art, theft, love, and an insatiable hunger to possess beauty at any cost.
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Community Reviews
I've read another book by Michael Finkel, "The Stranger in the Woods". And similar to that book, "The Art Thief" was very well-researched and well-told. It's pretty amazing how obsessed the main character, Stéphane Breitwieser, was, and how he and his partner-in-crime girlfriend, Anne-Catherine Kleinklausgot, got away with stealing a treasure trove of art and museum pieces in broad daylight, without ever getting caught. Until they did. The truly evil and unredeemable character in this tale was his mother, Mireille Stengel - an enabler to the max, without any kind of parental guidance to her now grown son. She had no business being a mother in the first place, it seems. This was an unfortunate cast of characters who fell into the abyss of obsession, if not greed. Riveting!
This short book follows the efforts of Stéphane Breitwieser, one of history’s most successful art thieves, to steal and collect various museum artifacts for his own enjoyment over several years. Ultimately, he is identified by law enforcement and prosecuted. The action is quickly-paced and remains intriguing from start to finish. I appreciated the author’s inclusion not of merely a description of the acts themselves, but also his explanation of Breitwiser’s inspiration, technique, and instincts. Extremely interesting.
I listened to the audiobook, well narrated by Eduardo Ballerini.
This was an incredible story and I can't believe that it actually happened! I still think about the amount of things that they stole and that they didn't get caught for as long as they did. Also where did everything go?! How insane! This is true crime plus historical nonfiction and my heart was very happy! Absolutely worth a read!
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