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When I think about art theft, I automatically picture a complex heist pulled off by a team who’s planned it for months. In this book, we learn about the world’s most prolific art thief, who simply walked into museums and took pieces he liked and walked back out with them, usually under his coat or other clothes.
That’s not the only unexpected part of this true story: Stéphane Breitwieser didn’t steal to get rich. In fact, he barely got by. Every piece he took was something that spoke to him, and he kept the whole hoard in his bedroom/sitting room. There he admired them as he lounged in his big four-poster bed with his girlfriend, who almost always acted as his assistant in the thefts.
Breitwieser stole more than 300 pieces of art in more than 200 thefts over almost eight years, the collective value of which was of somewhere between $1 billion and $2 billion. He roved around much of Europe, mostly in small or medium-size museums that didn’t have strong security. His girlfriend acted as lookout, and he had a knack for being able to figure out on the spot how to get an object released from its frame or display case and then out of the museum. He was excellent at looking security, museum staff or even police in the face and being calm and collected. He never came across as a possible guilty party.
Until he did. Finally, it all unraveled, and Breitwieser faced the music.
This true crime story is astonishing in the simplicity of each theft and in the description of the criminal himself. Breitwieser felt little guilt for his spree, feeling instead that because he loved the artworks they deserved to be in his possession.
His love became an obsession, and then an addiction that was impossible to break.
The Art Thief is such an interesting true crime book. If you’re looking for heart-pounding heists, however, you’ll be disappointed. Almost every theft comes across as ho-hum. The more fascinating part of the story is the psychology behind Breitwieser’s actions, his background and motives.
The book feels very clean throughout, except for the two instances of strong profanity.
Rated: Moderate. Profanity includes 2 uses of strong language and one use of mild language. There are some mentions of nudity in art and brief references to sensuality of the art, but they are mild. A man briefly thinks about killing himself.
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