The Art Thief: A True Story Of Love, Crime & Obsession-Michael Finkel

True Crime

Rating: 7.5/10

If you’ve been hanging around this site for a while, you know that I don’t feature a heck of a lot of non-fiction books. When I do, it’s undoubtedly narrative in style, and if it’s a story chockfull of transgressions? Then count me in!

If you call Stephane Breitwieser a thief or a con man, he will correct you in short order. He’s an art lover, a collector, a guardian of beauty. And if his method of acquisition is rather unorthodox? Well risks must be taken to shield art from the philistines putting it on display for all to see.

What I found most fascinating about his story is that he never, and I mean never, sold a single of the over two hundred objects d’art he stole. Choosing instead to line every surface in the attic room at his mother’s house where he resided. Even though he took money to live from all his relatives and only worked occasional minimum wage jobs. He preferred to live in his gilded treasure chest and wear tattered clothes.

The authors extensive research and intricate detail never slows the pace, taking the reader along on the journey from clandestine thievery to capture, fascinating us with the obsession that drove Breitwieser.

A spelling binding read!

Fun Fact: Picasso, the artist with the artwork stolen of all time, was himself an art thief!

Book Pairing(s): The Gardner Heist by Ulrich Boser, Hot Art by Joshua Knelman, The Art Of The Con by Anthony Amore