The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession (Unabridged)
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4.1 • 250 Ratings
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
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.
Cover images: (top) Bat by Albrecht Dürer. Bridgeman Images; (bottom) The Sleeping Shepherd (detail) by François Boucher © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
The Art Thief is a fast listen that’s incredibly rich. Author Michael Finkel wastes no time pulling us into the world of Stéphane Breitwieser, an enigmatic Frenchman who, along with his girlfriend, Anne-Catherine Kleinklaus, stole over 200 works of art from museums and galleries across Europe—and kept them sequestered in their attic apartment, where they could admire them from their canopied bed. Finkel intersperses his account of Breitwieser’s jaw-dropping crime spree—which stretched between 1997 and 2001—with matter-of-fact observations about his subject’s bizarre quirks and arrested development, along with commentary from psychologists and some of the detectives who struggled to catch him. Narrated by the talented Edoardo Ballerini, this riveting true-crime audiobook has zero violence but endless mystery.
Customer Reviews
Wow!
If this was not labeled as non-fiction I would have assumed it was fiction because the story was just unbelievable. This story is beautifully written as I was transported to the time, place and scene of each crime. The writer brilliantly crafts the narrative in such a way that we are pulled into the world of this “art thief.” We think we understand his motivations, life and the source of his obsession. Bravo 👏🏾
I cannot wait for the movie 👏🏾
Not good for hearing impaired but I’ll look forward to hardcover
3 stars
Not good for hearing impaired but I’ll look forward to hardcover
Unbelievably, true
The story of a small time pilferer who became one of the greatest art thieves of all times. The story is compellingly told with an almost forensic attention to detail. A lot of fun.