Chap­ter 5 of The Art Thief pro­vides an in-depth look into the evolv­ing rela­tion­ship between Bre­itwieser and Anne-Cather­ine, set against the back­drop of their shared love for art and their increas­ing­ly dan­ger­ous lifestyle. The cou­ple, deeply entwined in both affec­tion and crime, inhab­it an attic dec­o­rat­ed with Fer­rari-red sheets on a grand four-poster bed, sym­bol­iz­ing their escape from the mun­dane. Their play­ful moments—captured on video by Breitwieser—are filled with warmth, with Anne-Cather­ine humor­ous­ly claim­ing her domain, while Bre­itwieser lov­ing­ly refers to her as Nena, and she affec­tion­ate­ly calls him Steph. Despite the joy and inti­ma­cy they share, there is an under­ly­ing ten­sion, as they both are acute­ly aware of the crim­i­nal activ­i­ties that have defined their rela­tion­ship. This mix of love and law­less­ness sets the stage for their com­pli­cat­ed and reck­less bond, one that thrives in secre­cy.

For Bre­itwieser, art is more than just a passion—it is the cor­ner­stone of his exis­tence. His rela­tion­ship with art is root­ed in a deep emo­tion­al con­nec­tion, man­i­fest­ing as a coup de coeur, a vis­cer­al and almost over­whelm­ing desire to pos­sess beau­ti­ful objects. This dri­ve is not mere­ly about acquir­ing wealth, but about own­ing pieces that stir his soul, a feel­ing akin to the one he expe­ri­ences when he first meets Anne-Cather­ine at a birth­day par­ty in 1991. Their attrac­tion is imme­di­ate, fueled by an intense chem­istry and a shared under­stand­ing of the world they wish to inhab­it. Anne-Cather­ine is drawn to him not just by his bold­ness, but by the world of excite­ment and pas­sion he offers, a sharp con­trast to her more sub­dued life before they met. Despite warn­ings from friends and fam­i­ly about the reck­less­ness of their rela­tion­ship, she remains deeply devot­ed to him, find­ing both thrill and escape in their shared escapades. Their con­trast­ing backgrounds—her mod­est upbring­ing and his more afflu­ent lifestyle—add com­plex­i­ty to their dynam­ic, mak­ing their con­nec­tion all the more pow­er­ful and trans­for­ma­tive.

As their rela­tion­ship pro­gress­es, Anne-Cather­ine and Bre­itwieser begin to rely on each oth­er more, par­tic­u­lar­ly after Breitwieser’s par­ents’ sep­a­ra­tion caus­es him emo­tion­al dis­tress. Anne-Catherine’s sup­port dur­ing this time solid­i­fies their bond, and they start to cre­ate a life togeth­er in their attic sanc­tu­ary. Despite the cramped and uncon­ven­tion­al liv­ing arrange­ments, the space becomes a sym­bol of their shared exis­tence, a pri­vate world where they can build their dreams and avoid the pres­sures of the out­side world. Their finan­cial struggles—exemplified by Anne-Cather­ine’s strug­gles with her nurs­ing stud­ies and Breitwieser’s aban­don­ment of law school—only serve to strength­en their reliance on each oth­er. Rather than seek­ing con­ven­tion­al career suc­cess, they pur­sue a life of free­dom, dri­ven by the allure of art and the desire for beau­ty. This rebel­lion against soci­etal norms only deep­ens their con­nec­tion, as they con­tin­ue to pri­or­i­tize their pas­sions and each oth­er over every­thing else.

One of the piv­otal moments in Chap­ter 5 occurs dur­ing a trip to Thann, where Breitwieser’s atten­tion is caught by a flint­lock pis­tol dis­played in a muse­um. The pis­tol, like art, cap­ti­vates him, evok­ing the same intense desire he feels when he encoun­ters a mas­ter­piece. How­ev­er, this theft is more per­son­al than oth­ers; Bre­itwieser views it as an act of rebel­lion against his father, a chance to assert his auton­o­my and break free from the con­straints imposed on him. With Anne-Catherine’s encour­age­ment, he decides to steal the pis­tol, see­ing it not just as a valu­able item, but as a sym­bol of defi­ance and free­dom. The moment they take the pis­tol marks the begin­ning of their deep­er involve­ment in crim­i­nal activ­i­ties, solid­i­fy­ing their part­ner­ship in theft and rebel­lion. Their bond grows stronger as they con­tin­ue down this dan­ger­ous path, dri­ven by the thrill of crime, the pur­suit of beau­ty, and the desire to con­trol their own des­tinies. This piv­otal act rep­re­sents not just the theft of an object, but a fur­ther entrench­ment into a life they are unwill­ing to aban­don, regard­less of the con­se­quences.