Molly Foust reviewed The Art Thief by Michael Finkel
Review of 'The Art Thief' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I thought this bio about the bold yet understated life and heists of Stephan Breitwieser would be more about art and art thievery. I expected perhaps a few chapters detailing some less well-known heists, or maybe some philosophical discussion about who owns art and why. While these topics are alluded to, it struck me most as a book about addiction and how obsession and addiction can ruin your life and relationships and finances and break your heart. BUT what a super cool addiction to have if you are going to be afflicted with an addiction. In a world where most people never get to be addicted to anything more interesting than shopping, alcohol, gambling, sex or smoking-destroying your life to possess beautiful art seems an almost forgivable offense. I cannot say his pilfering is noble or his motives free of selfish narcissism, but if you have to be ruined by …
I thought this bio about the bold yet understated life and heists of Stephan Breitwieser would be more about art and art thievery. I expected perhaps a few chapters detailing some less well-known heists, or maybe some philosophical discussion about who owns art and why. While these topics are alluded to, it struck me most as a book about addiction and how obsession and addiction can ruin your life and relationships and finances and break your heart. BUT what a super cool addiction to have if you are going to be afflicted with an addiction. In a world where most people never get to be addicted to anything more interesting than shopping, alcohol, gambling, sex or smoking-destroying your life to possess beautiful art seems an almost forgivable offense. I cannot say his pilfering is noble or his motives free of selfish narcissism, but if you have to be ruined by an addiction you could do much worse. For this reason, I like this flawed thief and enjoyed every bit of this book. Despite being an earnest lover of museums and art, I cannot muster any real anger at this guy. I would like to set him loose on those warehouses stuffed with the treasures of oligarchs whose ill-gotten gains will never be seen by the public. Yet although the art market is rife with elitism and there is something inherently unfair about how the world's treasures are being distributed, his actions to take a piece of that unattainable pie are never really justified. He chose to steal from the public instead of upping his game and robbing unscrupulous individuals overburdened with treasures. And that is where he went wrong. Nevertheless, I would like to have dinner with this guy, though I wouldn't take my eyes off him were I to possess anything worth stealing.
