“Go Ahead,” She Said. “Take It.” So He Did.
March 1, 2019 2:27 PM   Subscribe

In the annals of art crime, it's hard to find someone who has stolen from ten different places. By the time the calendar flips to 2000, by Breitwieser's calculations, he's nearing 200 separate thefts and 300 stolen objects. For six years, he's averaged one theft every two weeks. One year, he is responsible for half of all paintings stolen from French museums. The Secrets of the World's Greatest Art Thief posted by chavenet (21 comments total) 29 users marked this as a favorite
 
From The Daily Beast
He has maintained that his criminal inclination stemmed purely from a passion for the objects that fell victim to his sticky fingers. “I did it because I loved these things, because I simply had to possess them,” he told a writer for Forbes who also noted that he showed “not a shred of remorse.”

But it seems he may have been equally tempted by the lax security that plagues many smaller museums. “There was often no watchman or anything—all you had to do was bend down and pick something up,” he said.
It seems that there are more "security systems" based on the honor system and everyone operating within the framework of societal norms than we would like to admit.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:38 PM on March 1, 2019 [1 favorite]


This passage, in re Breitwieser's first theft, is great, though it's unclear if these are Breitwieser's actual thoughts or the author's poetic interpretation:

He felt an urge to possess it. The museum was small, no security guard or alarm system, just a volunteer at the entrance booth. The display case itself, Breitwieser noted, was partially open. He was wearing a backpack and could easily hide the pistol in there.

One must resist temptation, he knew. It even says so in the Bible, not that he was particularly religious. What our heart really wants, we must often deny. Maybe this is why so many people seem conflicted and miserable—we are taught to be at constant war with ourselves. As if that were a virtue.

What would happen, he wondered, if he did not resist temptation? If, instead, he fed temptation and freed himself from society's repressive restraints? He had no desire to physically harm anyone or so much as cause fright. He contemplated the flintlock pistol and whispered a few of these thoughts to his girlfriend.

posted by smokysunday at 3:24 PM on March 1, 2019 [1 favorite]


There he and Kleinklaus spot a partly empty display case, with a laminated card inside that reads "Objects removed for study." Nothing in the case interests them, but Breitwieser has an idea and steals the card.
posted by zekesonxx at 4:33 PM on March 1, 2019 [6 favorites]


That was a well written article, thanks for posting it.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 5:42 PM on March 1, 2019 [3 favorites]


Crossing international borders is stressful but low-risk. They travel from Belgium to Luxembourg to Germany to their home in France without incident

Belgium's longest border is with France! I wonder why he would decide to drive through two extra borders - just to save some driving time?
posted by moonmilk at 6:45 PM on March 1, 2019 [1 favorite]


Yes, very well written.
posted by bendy at 7:00 PM on March 1, 2019


I read this earlier and it was fascinating. Until the end, when it became sad.
posted by TedW at 8:46 PM on March 1, 2019 [2 favorites]


It seems that there are more "security systems" based on the honor system and everyone operating within the framework of societal norms than we would like to admit.s

Sure. Guards cost money. Security is expensive.
posted by adam hominem at 8:50 PM on March 1, 2019 [1 favorite]


Most people aren't enough of a dick to intentionally remove unique objects from a public repository of human culture.
posted by jaduncan at 10:49 PM on March 1, 2019 [14 favorites]


Yes, like Wall Street.

"The three 17th-century coppers are found by a logger, who brings them home and hammers them onto the roof of his henhouse, which had been leaking."

What if Steeplejack Bill found a Rubens?
posted by clavdivs at 11:14 PM on March 1, 2019 [1 favorite]


Far more of the world works on a loose trust of each other than on bars and guards and guns. Fortunately people like him are rare enough that it can continue to do so.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 6:52 AM on March 2, 2019 [3 favorites]


amazing. i'm so jealous of people who flaunt rules.
also reminds me of the art forger guy beltrachi. nice netflix doc on him.
posted by danjo at 7:40 AM on March 2, 2019


Most people aren't enough of a dick to intentionally remove unique objects from a public repository of human culture.

Most people figure they wouldn't get away with stealing and selling the stuff. If everyone knew they could walk out of a museum with something they could convert into a million dollars and never be identified or punished, "most" would be incorrect.
posted by pracowity at 8:27 AM on March 2, 2019


If everyone knew they could walk out of a museum with something they could convert into a million dollars and never be identified or punished, "most" would be incorrect.

That is not my experience, although of course there would be a lot more people interested than just this guy.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 9:34 AM on March 2, 2019 [1 favorite]


Belgium's longest border is with France! I wonder why he would decide to drive through two extra borders - just to save some driving time?

A fair bit of driving time; Mulhouse, where they lived, is next to the borders with Switzerland and Germany.
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 5:21 PM on March 2, 2019


If everyone knew they could walk out of a museum with something they could convert into a million dollars and never be identified or punished, "most" would be incorrect

That is of corse the standard excuse amoral people make: "Oh everybody wants to do the same thing I do, I just have the courage to act on my desires." It's very similar to the "Everybody thinks the same as me, I'm just saying it out loud." argument.

I have to wonder though, if the guy was destroying artworks instead of stealing them? Would we see the same "Oh how cute, everybody want to do that." attitude?
posted by happyroach at 1:51 AM on March 3, 2019 [1 favorite]


I have to wonder though, if the guy was destroying artworks instead of stealing them? Would we see the same "Oh how cute, everybody want to do that." attitude?

I actually don't see that much moral difference here - both are removing artifacts from the public historical record and leaving only secondary sources. That might be a weird personal quirk, though.
posted by jaduncan at 4:15 AM on March 3, 2019 [1 favorite]


At what point do they just put him in jail for life? Dude clearly has a compulsion/mental illness he cannot control and since that can't be recognized apparently...?
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:40 AM on March 3, 2019


A mental institution instead of jail I hope.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 8:39 PM on March 3, 2019


I'm re-reading the Kyril Bonfiglioli books right now, so this is timely.
posted by aspersioncast at 2:59 PM on March 4, 2019


I gasped aloud when it got to the part where his mother destroyed the paintings.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:40 PM on March 12, 2019


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