The Art Thief

Why are art thieves fascinating? 

I wander through art museums, pondering that thought. I don’t want to be an art thief myself, but I try to imagine what motivates them.   

In considering the question, I used to assume they were all in a single category: steal a picture or two, find someone to buy them, then lay low.     

Many art thieves follow that pattern, but not all. The most dramatic exception was Stephane Breitwieser of Germany, the most successful art thief of all time, and his girlfriend Anne-Catherine Kleinklaus. They operated from 1995 to 2001.

The story of Stephane Breitwieser, and the unique way that he conducted business, is told in Michael Finkel’s book The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession. Finkel points out that most art pieces, including famous ones such as the Mona Lisa or The Scream, are stolen singly or just a few pieces at a time. Breitwieser’s approach was completely different. 

Stephane seemed to have a true love of the art he stole. He never considered selling it; rather, he hid it where he lived—in his mother’s attic. He started by stealing a few dozen pieces. Then, encouraged by those successes, he stole more.  

Soon he was joined by his girlfriend Anne-Catherine Kleinklaus, and the two of them drove throughout Europe stealing art, some of it in handfuls a day. Stephane would look for likely targets, and when he found one, Anne-Catherine would stand guard while he lifted an art piece and stuffed it in his pants, or wherever. Then they would stroll leisurely out the door and drive off. 

Over a number of years they stole more than two hundred pieces. Stephane hid all of it in the attic, never with a thought to selling it or giving it away. He and Anne-Catherine would lounge in bed, gazing at this piece or that, then rise to plan their next outing. 

If Stephane had remained careful, as he had done early in his career, there’s no telling how much art he might have stolen and over what period of time. But in 2001, the Swiss police caught up with him. At first they assumed he was a minor thief, but then they went inside the attic, and their jaws dropped. 

They dragged Stephane and Anne-Catherine off, and he ended up in jail. (Somehow she eluded that fate.) His mother, concerned that the police would find the most valuable pieces—a group of about fifty paintings—took them outside and burned them. 

The stolen art’s value has been estimated at close to two billion dollars, most of which was in the paintings, which had been burned. 

Stephane Breitwieser was the greatest art thief in history, and he never earned a penny from it.