The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes references to addiction.

In 1995, Breitwieser’s grandparents treat their grandson and his girlfriend to a Swiss skiing trip. He and Anne-Catherine visit Gruyères Castle and see an 18th-century painting on wood by German artist Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich. Breitwieser steals the painting and hides it under his coat. It is the couple’s third joint theft and their first stolen painting.

Breitwieser claims to experience a “coup de Coeur” when he sees artworks he wants to steal. The feeling resembles Stendhal syndrome—an experience described by the French writer Stendhal while viewing the frescoes in the Santa Croce Basilica in Florence. Stendhal was overwhelmed by “the profoundest experience of ecstasy” (39) and believed he might faint or have a heart attack. In the 1970s, Italian psychiatrist Graziella Magherini collected evidence of similar incidents where visitors to Florence were overwhelmed by the beauty of the art. Breitwieser has been accused of kleptomania, but he is insulted by this diagnosis. For people with kleptomania, the high lies in the act of stealing, often followed by a low and feelings of shame. However, Breitwieser claims his thrill lies in the resulting possession of beautiful art. After assessing Breitwieser, Swiss psychotherapist Michel Schmidt concluded he was “a menace to society” but not “a compulsive thief” (41).