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.
BUY THE BOOK
These clubs recently read this book...
Community Reviews
The first half was a bit dry. While this was not a fictional book, I found I truly didn’t care about anyone in it and the story wasn’t compelling.
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!
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.