The Art Thief

Archival Summary & Scope

Stéphane Bréitwieser, the most prolific art thief in history, executed over 200 audacious heists—often in crowded museums in broad daylight—with his girlfriend as accomplice. Driven by an insatiable hunger to possess beauty, he amassed a $2 billion collection of stolen art, never selling a piece but displaying it in his attic bedroom like a king, until his dramatic downfall. Michael Finkel's *The Art Thief* is a spellbinding true-crime narrative of obsession, flawed genius, and the shocking end to an extraordinary reign.

#1 New York Times Bestseller. A Best Book of the Year (The Washington Post, The New Yorker). "Enthralling." —The Wall Street Journal.