61 pages • 2 hours read
Michael FinkelA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes references to abortion and abusive relationships.
Finkel explores Breitwieser’s artistic taste in this chapter and examines what draws humans to art. The author points out that the existence of art contradicts Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection, which argues that survival depends on “eliminating inefficiency and waste” (103). Finkel suggests that art is a sign humanity has moved beyond mere survival. In 2011, neuroscientist Semir Zeki pinpointed the part of the brain responsible for aesthetic responses to art—the medial orbital-frontal cortex. Studies show humans have preferences of subject and color in art. Images of the natural world, harmonious shapes, and the color blue are universally popular. Individual taste is also influenced by aspects such as cultural background and personal identity.
Breitweiser is attracted to oil paintings in the “luminous colors” largely used by Northern European artists during the Renaissance. He favors more minor artists, believing great Renaissance painters like Leonardo da Vinci do not convey the same strength of feeling in their works. Breitwieser’s taste makes it easier for him to steal. Works by less-famous artists are less well-protected, while cabinet paintings are small enough to conceal in a jacket or bag. The other items Breitwieser steals, such as tobacco boxes, are examples of pre-Industrial Revolution craftsmanship.
Breitwieser steals 200 objects in two years, either with Anne-Catherine or alone. Finkel explores the psychology of obsessive collecting. German psychoanalyst Werner Muensterberger asserted that compulsive collectors often feel out of tune with society. Collecting gives their life meaning and offers a retreat from the world. American art-crime professor Erin Thompson adds that a collector’s emotional connection to an item sometimes makes them feel entitled to steal it.
Neuroscientists believe that the pursuit of an object and not the acquirement causes the release of pleasurable chemicals in the brains of obsessive collectors. Consequently, as soon as one item is acquired, they are compelled to seek out another. Finkel argues that Breitwieser was only likely to stop stealing when he was caught and, for a long time, he was lucky. During one theft, his belt buckle broke while he was hiding an oil painting in his pants. Fortunately, the security guard did not react to the loud noise it made as it hit the ground.
Anne-Catherine’s vacations from work are spent on stealing expeditions, and she is increasingly afraid of being caught. During one trip to Normandy, the couple returns home early when they see a newspaper headline reporting their thefts. Breitwieser suggests they spend the next vacation in Belgium—a country they have never stolen from. The couple go on a weekend’s scouting tour to Brussels to assess museum security measures. At the Art & History Museum (Belgium’s equivalent of the Louvre), Breitwieser commits the crime he is most proud of.
In the Belgian Art & History Museum, Breitwieser notices a display with a card reading “OBJECTS REMOVED FOR STUDY” (111). He slices the case open and takes the index card. In another room, he is attracted by a display of ornate 16th-century silver. He steals two chalices, leaving the index card in the place of the missing items. Back at the car, he realizes he has left a chalice lid behind. Anne-Catherine removes an earring and tells the museum security guard she has lost it inside. He allows them back in, where they retrieve the lid and two goblets.
Breitwieser and Anne-Catherine alter their appearances for their next visit to the same museum, changing their hair and wearing glasses. Their earlier theft remains undiscovered, as the index card is still in the display case. Breitwieser steals a large silver replica of a warship and stuffs it into Anne-Catherine’s bag. He also hides a two-foot-tall chalice in his coat sleeve. On the way out, a guard asks to see their tickets. Neither can retrieve their tickets without exposing the concealed items, so Breitwieser claims they are having lunch in the café. The guard accepts this explanation, and the couple eats at the museum with the stolen goods still in their possession.
A few days later, the couple visits the museum for the third time. They steal from the same silver cabinet, totaling 11 items. On the way home, Breitwieser snatches an enormous 17th-century urn from the window display of an antiques shop. Later, Anne-Catherine calls the store to ask the price of the urn in the window. The owner quotes $100,000, unaware it has been stolen.
In May 1997, Breitwieser and Anne-Catherine visit a small art gallery in Lucerne, Switzerland. The gallery is opposite the police station, and Anne-Catherine instructs her boyfriend not to steal anything. However, he is captivated by a still life by Dutch painter Willem van Aelst. Breitwieser slips the painting under his arm, and they walk out. The couple is followed by an employee of the gallery who grabs Breitwieser and calls the police. They are arrested and taken to the courthouse the next day. Breitwieser pretends remorse, claiming the theft was a one-off impulsive act and Anne-Catherine was not involved. Mireille Stengel pays their bail, and they are released.
Breitwieser has been in trouble with the police before. As a child, he was caught shoplifting. He has also been arrested twice for aggressive disagreements with police officers over parking tickets. Previously, his mother was lenient about his crimes, but this time she is furious. Nevertheless, she hires the best Swiss attorney money can buy. The couple receives suspended sentences and are fined. They are prohibited from entering Switzerland for three years.
Before their arrest, Anne-Catherine discovered she was pregnant. She did not tell Breitwieser but confided in his mother. In the aftermath of their arrest, Anne-Catherine realizes their lifestyle is incompatible with having a child. With Mireille Stengel’s help, she has a secret abortion. Meanwhile, Breitwieser feels encouraged by the light punishment they received for the Swiss theft. He intends to continue stealing in other countries.
Anne-Catherine asks Breitwieser to choose between her and the stolen art. However, he refuses to answer her ultimatum, and she compromises. Anne-Catherine insists he must steal less frequently and be more cautious. She gives him surgical gloves to wear during the heists and states that he must never offend in Switzerland again.
Breitwieser’s next theft is a 17th-century painting from a Paris auction house. He wears gloves but ignores Anne-Catherine’s assessment that it is too risky. During the couple’s next holiday in the Loire Valley, Breitwieser refrains from stealing for a week. On the final day, he sees a painting by the great Flemish painter Brueghel. Anne-Catherine watches the security guard on the floor below while he climbs on a chair to take the artwork. Afterward, Anne-Catherine wipes the chair down. From then on, the couple’s thefts accelerate again.
One day, Breitwieser finds the bill for Anne-Catherine’s abortion among piles of papers. He drives to the hospital where she works and slaps her across the face. Anne-Catherine packs her possessions and moves in with her parents. A French therapist later concluded Breitwieser used coercive control over his girlfriend—emotionally and possibly physically. However, Bernard Darties disagreed, believing home videos indicated Anne-Catherine was a willing participant.
Anne-Catherine rents an apartment of her own and ignores Breitwieser’s calls. Breitwieser does not steal for four months, feeling life is meaningless without his girlfriend. When Anne-Catherine finally takes his call, Breitwieser apologizes and persuades her to move back in with him. She asserts that she will no longer participate in his thefts, and he must never hit her again.
By 1999, Breitwieser has stolen 250 items. He begins stealing from churches while Anne-Catherine is at work. The attic is so full he begins to stack his acquisitions on the floor. When his ban on entering Switzerland expires, Breitwieser secures a well-paid job as a waiter, commuting to Switzerland daily. Anne-Catherine warns him not to be tempted into Swiss robberies again. Breitwieser spends his wages on romantic trips that do not involve heists.
Chapter 19 explores The Appreciation and Power of Art. The author states that art serves no functional purpose, existing only to capture the imagination and create an emotional response. Thus, he argues that the persistence of art is a sign of humanity’s elevated consciousness, demonstrating that “we’ve won the evolutionary war” (104). Finkel introduces scientific research to support his argument, identifying the part of the human brain that has developed to respond to art. In discussing how artistic taste is influenced, the author points out that Breitwieser’s aesthetic preferences are niche. Instead of famous masterpieces, he covets works by less-celebrated Renaissance artists that are easier to steal. The author suggests that the art thief’s propensity for stealing may have inadvertently shaped his taste.
Chapter 20 delves into The Psychological Aspects of Criminal Behavior. Identifying Breitweiser as an obsessive collector, the author asserts that this impulse partly drives his crimes. A form of addiction, obsessive collecting has “no saturation point” (108-09). Finkel states that, as Breitwieser’s desire to acquire artworks could never be quenched, his eventual capture was inevitable.
Chapter 21 returns to the narrative of Breitwieser’s heists, depicting him reveling in the role of a master criminal. The art thief is shown introducing new elements to his crimes as he uses disguises, steals from the same museum case on three separate occasions, and uses a museum’s own index card to conceal the thefts. The revelation that Breitwieser’s favorite movie is The Thomas Crown Affair is significant. His enthusiasm for the film about an ingenious gentleman thief suggests that the glamor of fiction shapes his perception of himself.
Tension mounts in the narrative as the risks involved in Breitwieser’s crimes escalate. The art thief’s confidence is illustrated when he steals a large silver warship replica “the size of a birthday balloon” and then impulsively shoplifts a giant urn from an antiques store on the way home (114). The author implies that Breitwieser has become “delusional” in his conviction that he can get away with the most daring crimes. He is portrayed as a loose cannon, as he frequently ignores Anne-Catherine’s judgment on which crimes are safe to attempt. Breitwieser’s recklessness culminates in his inevitable arrest outside a Swiss gallery. The gallery’s location—directly opposite a police station—seems to present an incentive rather than a deterrent to Breitwieser. Perceiving himself as a criminal genius, he cannot resist committing a felony in plain sight of the law.
In this section of the text, the complicity of Breitwieser’s mother in his behavior becomes more apparent. Despite her anger with her son when he is arrested, she protects him from the consequences of his actions by paying for an expensive attorney. Consequently, Breitwieser receives a light sentence and remains undeterred from his commitment to a life of crime. Meanwhile, Anne-Catherine’s enthusiasm as an accomplice begins to waver. Unlike Breitwieser, she does not feel “bulletproof” (121). Her unplanned pregnancy leads to the epiphany that her boyfriend is incapable of adult responsibilities such as parenting. Anne-Catherine’s decision to stop participating in the thefts marks the end of any moderating influence over Breitwieser’s criminal behavior. His subsequent decision to steal items of religious and ceremonial significance from churches indicates a further decline in his ethics.