SLCL and  Saint Louis Art Museum’s Member Book Club Present Author Michael Finkel

The St. Louis County Library Foundation and the Saint Louis Art Museum’s Member Book Club present bestselling writer Michael Finkel author of “The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession.”

Tuesday, August 15, at 7:00 p.m. at the Saint Louis Art Museum-Ferrell Auditorium One Fine Arts Drive, St. Louis, MO 63110.

The program is free and open to the public. Books will be available for purchase at the event from The Novel Neighbor. 

For centuries, works of art have been stolen in countless ways from all over the world, but no one has been quite as successful at it as the master thief Stéphane Breitwieser. Carrying out more than two hundred heists over nearly eight years—in museums and cathedrals all over Europe—Breitwieser, along with his girlfriend who worked as his lookout, stole more than three hundred objects, until it all fell apart in spectacular fashion.

In “The Art Thief,” Michael Finkel brings us into Breitwieser’s strange and fascinating world. Possessed of a remarkable athleticism and an innate ability to circumvent practically any security system, Breitwieser managed to pull off a breathtaking number of audacious thefts. Yet these strange talents bred a growing disregard for risk and an addict’s need to score, leading Breitwieser to ignore his girlfriend’s pleas to stop—until one final act of hubris brought everything crashing down. This is a riveting story of art, crime, love, and an insatiable hunger to possess beauty at any cost.

Michael Finkel is the author of the New York Times bestseller "The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit," as well as the book "True Story,"which was adapted into a 2015 major motion picture produced by Brad Pitt and starring James Franco and Jonah Hill. Finkel has reported from more than fifty countries across six continents. In the line of reportorial duty, Finkel has skied off the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, set sail on a Haitian refugee boat, joined a cult in Colorado among other things. His work has appeared in National Geographic, GQ, The Atlantic, Esquire, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, and The New York Times Magazine.

Program sites are accessible. With at least two weeks' notice, accommodations will be made for persons with disabilities. Call 314-994-3300 or contact us.