Santiago Monroy’s Reviews > The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession > Status Update

“One trait shared by all true collectors,” (impulsive or obsessive collectors) Muensterberger warned, is that “there is simply no saturation point.” The thirst to add more is unquenchable. The intoxicating flood of brain chemicals peaks during the pursuit, researchers found, not the capture. When the quest outshines the treasure, you don’t want to stop questing.

Police logic dictates stolen art is rarely sold for profit but rather finds ways through three channels—either laundered back into the legal market at deep discounts, ransomed to owners or insurers, or circulated as high-value, portable currency within criminal networks. “There’s no Dr. No”. No criminal cares about the art per se…

In art crime, recovering the object matters more than catching the thief. «What’s the worth of a vulgar burglar,» asks the French art inspector Darties, «compared to a Rembrandt?»

The story of art, Breitwieser says, is a story of stealing. […] The Persians plundered the Babylonians, the Greeks raided the Persians, the Romans robbed the Greeks. The Vandals binged on the riches of Rome. […] Napoleon stole to endow the Louvre, and Stalin to stock the Hermitage. Hitler […] planned a museum in his hometown of Linz, Austria, that would house every important work in the world.

“One of Breitwieser’s criminal talents is his ability to conjure, on the fly, simple solutions to unancticipated problems at pressure-filled moments, a prison term on the line.”

Over 200 heists worth ~2 billion in eight years. Didn’t sell one piece. Stéphane Guillaume Frédéric Breitwieser “is an unemployed freeloader holed up in his mother’s house.” He sees himself as an “art collector with an unorthodox acquisition style.” Or “art liberator.”