Stéphane Breitwieser: The Tragic Story of the Most Successful Art Thief

Stéphane Breitwieser is an unusual kind of art thief who organized audacious and often absurdly simple museum heists not because of profit but because of his deep love of art. Together with his girlfriend, he stole hundreds of artworks, all of which were then hung in their attic. Their eventual arrest received a tragic twist when Breiwieser’s mother, confused and scared, destroyed almost the entire collection, burning and shredding the works of Peter Brueghel, Antoine Watteau, and many others. Read on to learn more about Stéphane Breitwieser.

When talking about art theft, the conversation usually drifts toward the possible profit for the person who is behind the crime. In most cases, stolen artworks are used to cover up or to avoid the consequences of other less fancy crimes. For example, the mafia uses stolen paintings as collateral in high-level drug deals or while negotiating the release of their bosses from prison.

Occasionally, however, a more sophisticated art thief appears, driven by the desire to possess a work of art for their own pleasure. Such perpetrators are usually more careful in their methods, understanding the true value of the museum collections. One of such sophisticated connoisseurs was Stéphane Breitwieser, a Frenchman recognized as the most successful art thief in history.

Years later, Breitwieser would graduate from high school with no particular career inclinations, mostly working as a waiter. From his meager savings, he bought art objects at flea markets but could hardly afford anything of quality. Once, he secured a short-term job as a museum guard in a small local museum, stealing a 5th-century CE belt buckle on his last day of work.

Breitwieser’s major crime spree started in 1994 when he visited a small museum in Alsace with his girlfriend, a nurse Anne-Catherine Kleinklaus. Together, they observed an intricate eighteenth-century flintlock pistol. Kleinklaus urged Breitwieser to take it, as there were no cameras and no extra measures in sight since the pistol was simply placed on a display table. From the spring of 1995, thefts became a common occasion, happening almost weekly, with the couple stuffing precious loot in their pockets, handbags, and sleeves. Soon, they started stealing paintings: while Kleinklaus kept watch, Breiweiser either unscrewed the frames or simply cut the canvases out with a Swiss army knife.

Breitwieser and Kleinklaus had a strategy that allowed them to remain unnoticed for years. First, they targeted small museums located away from tourist spots. They relied on fewer visitors and more relaxed security measures. They never had any elaborate tools or mechanisms, using the most basic objects such as screwdrivers and tweezers. They never broke anything, they simply dismantled glass cases with museum objects and put them back in place. To avoid immediate alert of guards and visitors, they placed cards reading Object Removed for Study on empty shelves.

As noted by Breiweiser, some museums did not manage to notice missing objects for months because of this. They preferred smaller objects that would fit easily under their clothes or inside handbags. They tried to avoid stealing works made by famous names, focusing mostly on lesser-known artists or creations made by anonymous craftsmen. However, Breitwieser could not resist adding an occasional work by Dürer to his private collection.

Still, they were shockingly audacious. Traveling throughout Europe on their crime spree, Breitwieser and Kleinhaus did not hesitate to repeatedly invade the same institutions, sometimes coming back within days or even hours. They struck conversations with museum guards almost mid-heist, joined museum tours, and even communicated with the police. Right after one of the heists, Breitwieser noticed a scratch on his car while stuffing the stolen goods into the trunk. Without hesitation, he immediately called the police, who inspected the vehicle without suspecting anything.

During the six years of his criminal career, Breitwieser accumulated around 250 art objects, with a total worth of at least $1.5 billion. Among his collection were the precious Sybille, Princess of Cleves by Lucas Cranach the Elder (stolen right from the Sotheby’s auction), works by Antoine Watteau, and Peter Brueghel the Younger.

Breiweiser’s luck ran out in 2001 while he was stealing a sixteenth-century bugle from the Richard Wagner Museum in Switzerland. Initially, the authorities believed it was a one-time offense, yet soon connected him to a series of similar crimes. After a few weeks under arrest, Breiweiser started to talk. Demonstrating a unique memory for details, he recalled all of his stolen works, their nuances, and the peculiarities of each theft.

Despite the shocking value of accumulated works, Breitwieser never attempted to sell anything. Instead, he filled the attic of his mother’s house, where he and Kleinhaus lived, with all his possessions. During interviews, he claimed that he wanted to liberate precious objects from the constraints of museums, allowing them to live and be experienced naturally.

Arriving at the Breitwieser house with a search warrant, the officers expected to see a warehouse full of antiques. Yet, the walls of the attic were completely empty. Upon questioning, Mireille Breitwieser confessed she burned all the paintings and threw the sculptures and other objects into a canal nearby, angry with his son because of his criminal behavior. Some officers, however, believed that Mireille was another of her son’s accomplices and decided to destroy incriminating evidence. More than a hundred pieces were recovered from the water and eventually restored, yet 60 others were presumed lost in the fire. Among them were the paintings by the Rococo master François Boucher, Cranachs, Brueghels, and Watteaus.

Stéphane Breitwieser After the Trial

While awaiting the verdict, Stéphane Breitwieser tried to commit suicide in his prison cell. He was saved by another inmate, who alerted the guards in time. Labeled by the prosecutor as narcissistic and egotistical, Breitwieser was sentenced to three years in prison. The full blame of his alleged accomplice, Anne-Catherine Kleinklaus, was never proven. She served a six-month sentence for receiving stolen items from her now ex-boyfriend. There was not enough evidence for the involvement of Breitweiser’s mother in his crimes, so her 18-month sentence happened because of the deliberate destruction of stolen artworks.

Breitwieser and his lawyers insisted that the crimes he committed were not the results of malice, but rather expressions of genuine love and obsession with high arts. However, many experts, including Michael Finkel, the author of the thief’s biography The Art Thief, believe that the root of Breitwieser’s problem lies not in his love for art but in a very specific case of kleptomania. Classified as an impulse control disorder, kleptomania is an uncontrollable urge to steal, mostly without financial gain in mind. Kleptomaniacs sometimes steal useless objects of no value simply for the act of it, later experiencing a rapid emotional decline from satisfaction to all-consuming guilt. Breitwieser, however, presents a very specific case of a sharp focus on objects of art and a sense of entitlement to possess them. Moreover, he did not show much remorse in the years following his conviction.

During his first prison sentence, Breitwieser wrote a highly romanticized autobiography claiming he did it all out of his utter love for great art. This love did not fade away in captivity, and upon his release in 2006, Breitwieser continued to steal artworks. In 2011, the police found another 30 stolen pieces in his house, which resulted in another three years in prison.

The latest conviction of Stéphane Breitwieser happened in 2023 after he caught the police’s attention by selling suspicious antiquities on eBay. After a search in his mother’s house, the officers found another collection of stolen objects from various European museums and €163,000 in cash hidden in baskets. Breitwieser was sentenced to house arrest and surveillance until 2031.