About The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession
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.
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.
- Complete Title: The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession
- Format: Hardcover
- Language: English
- Number of Pages: 240
- Publication Time: June 27, 2023
- Publisher: Knopf
- ISBN: 0525657320
- ISBN13: 9780525657323
About Michael Finkel
Michael Finkel
Michael Finkel is the author of “The Art Thief,” “The Stranger in the Woods,” and “True Story,” which was adapted into a 2015 motion picture. He has reported from more than 50 countries and written for National Geographic, GQ, Rolling Stone, Esquire, Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, and The New York Times Magazine. He lives with his family in northern Utah and southern France.
Reviews The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession
Michael Finkel
Dear Goodreaders: Though “The Art Thief” is a short book (just over 200 pages), I worked on the project for more than 11 years, trying to make sure that everything in this wild and unpredictable tale…
Liz
The Art Thief is a narrative nonfiction so it reads almost like fiction. But this amazing story is true. Crazy to think that so recently in the past, someone could get away with stealing hundreds of p…
Carolyn Walsh
My Recommendation This was an incredible true story about the most prolific and brazen art thief in history. Between 1995 and 2001, Stephane Breitiviser is said to have stolen 239 valuable/priceless…
Helga
3.5Crime works best, not with overpowering force but when nobody knows it’s being committed.This book is about one man’s obsession to possess beauty, but not in the conventional way by paying for…
Chris Lee
The Art Thief is a book about obsession, hoarding, and the insatiable desire to steal precious artifacts. The one aspect that makes this story a bit unique is the fact that the main thief does not tak…
Krista
When Breitwieser is not in bed, he dotes like a butler on the works in his rooms, monitoring temperature and humidity, light and dust. His pieces are kept in better condition, he says, than they we…
SVETLANA
The true crime story tells us about Stéphane Breitwieser, a successful thief who stole over 400 pieces from museums, auctions and churches in 7 different countries.He was stealing not for money but f…
Sue
Michael Finkel has written one of the more unusual true crime books in producing this tome outlining the criminal career of Stephane Breitwieser, a French man from the Alsace region who has one, possi…
Chrissie
2.5 starsWhile I found the story itself fascinating, and the level of crimes committed and the resultant aftermath rather horrific in their way, several choices made by Finkel kept this from rising ab…