€1.4 BILLON of STOLEN Art (Greatest Art Thief?)

Stéphane Breitwieser is a Frenchman born in 1971 who gained notoriety for his art thievery, stealing over 200 paintings, drawings and other works of art from museums and galleries across Europe, with an estimated value of around €1.4 billion. He did not steal for profit but rather out of an obsessive desire to own and collect art that he considered worthy of stealing.

His modus operandi was deceptively simple and highly effective, removing artwork from walls during the day and walking out with it under his arm.

Breitwieser was eventually caught stealing a bugle from the Lichtenstein Museum in Vienna Austria and sentenced to 4 years , with police discovering a vast collection of stolen artworks in his mother's house, and a further 140 pieces of which were recovered from a canal where his mother had thrown them in an effort to destroy evidence.

Breitwieser is now considered an expert on art theft and has been consulted by museums and galleries on how to improve their security measures.