Artistic thief

Over the centuries, works of art have been stolen in countless ways, but no one has been as successful as master thief Stefan Breitwieser. In more than 200 robberies over nearly a decade — at museums and churches across Europe — Breitwieser and his girlfriend stole more than 300 works of art before he was caught. Michael Finkel takes us into the strange and beautiful world of an art thief. Unlike the rest, he never stole for money, but kept all the treasures at home, where he could admire them to his heart's content. Thanks to his boundless love of art and the ability to evaluate almost any security system, Breitweiser managed to carry out an incredible number of daring thefts. However, these strange talents gave birth to an increasing disregard for security and an unbridled thirst to add to the collection endlessly, until the thief saw traps behind his own ego. This is a real story about art, crime and the irrepressible desire to possess beauty at any cost.