"The Art Thief" by Michael Finkel
The true story of a French art thief who stole over $1billion in art and kept it in his mother's attic.
Stéphane Bréitwieser is a fascinating personality. He was in his 20s when he stole his first piece of art, an 18th Century flintlock pistol from a museum in Thann, France. It was more like shoplifting than high-stakes heist. Later he stole a medieval crossbow from a different museum. Throughout the 1990s, he and his girlfriend Anne-Catherine Kleinklaus went on to steal over 200 pieces from small museums in France and Switzerland, keeping them on display in the attic of Bréitwieser’s mother’s home where they lived. When he was finally caught, estimates of his collection range between $1 and $2 billion. I won’t spoil it here, but what eventually happens to these pieces is shocking.
Bréitwieser never took pieces intending to sell them, and only stole what spoke to his heart. Although he researched much of the art before stealing it, the actual thefts were often planned spontaneously. Professionals who’ve analyzed him put him in a psychologic class of his own, although most diagnose him with some type of Stendhal Syndrome, a condition that can cause heart palpitations, fainting, and even hallucinations in the presence of great beauty. Whether that diagnosis is accurate or not, near the end of his art thief career, he began to show a hubris and recklessness that was closer to kleptomania.
READ IT IF: You like true crime, art, and fascinatingly peculiar personalities.
Michael Finkel is also the author of Stranger in the Woods, the story of a hermit living in the woods of Maine. It’s one of my favorite non-fiction books of the last few years, and shows Finkel has a knack for seeking out and capturing fascinatingly odd personalities. Below is my review of that book from my 2018 GRC Book List. I highly recommend both of these books, and I’m going to search out more by the author.
The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel
THE SHORT STORY: Subtitled, "The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit."
This is a fascinating story, very well told. I loved this book, and so did my family. In 1986, after graduating from high school, Christopher Knight walked into the woods of Maine and lived as a hermit for the next 27 years. In almost three decades he was seen only once by a hiker, and once by a group of hunters. He lived in a tent in a hidden clearing, and stole supplies and novels from nearby summer cabins and a camp for the disabled. He became an urban legend - the Hermit of North Pond - with the same mystique as the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot.
This novel tells the story of his capture, incarceration, and his history told from the point of view of a journalist who befriended (or at least made the grudging acquaintance of) Knight once he was in the Maine penal system. The story is borderline unbelievable.
Our family listened to this on Audible over the course of three days while driving through the Pacific Northwest. Suzy and Ansel were extremely interested, and it was a thrill to discuss it with them for the rest of our road trip.
READ IT IF: You like evidence that the truth is stranger than fiction.