Chap­ter 7 of The Art Thief takes us into the ear­ly days of March 1995, where Bre­itwieser and Anne-Cather­ine, fresh from the suc­cess of their recent cross­bow theft, embark on a ski­ing vaca­tion in the Swiss Alps. Their trip is fund­ed by Breitwieser’s grand­par­ents, but the get­away is far from a typ­i­cal vaca­tion. Instead, it serves as a cov­er for their ongo­ing crim­i­nal activ­i­ties, as they plan to make a detour to Gruyères Cas­tle, a his­toric Swiss fortress turned muse­um. Upon arrival, they casu­al­ly pur­chase their tick­ets and enter the cas­tle, a strate­gic move to avoid rais­ing any sus­pi­cion. While appear­ing as sim­ple tourists, Bre­itwieser uses this vis­it as an oppor­tu­ni­ty to assess the castle’s art­works with the intent to steal, sig­nal­ing the start of anoth­er heist.

As an art enthu­si­ast, Bre­itwieser has always been deeply drawn to muse­ums and art col­lec­tions, cul­ti­vat­ing a habit of col­lect­ing muse­um brochures and immers­ing him­self in art lit­er­a­ture when­ev­er he can. His love for art goes beyond the sur­face; he often recalls var­i­ous art­works from child­hood muse­um vis­its, fur­ther feed­ing his pas­sion. How­ev­er, Breitwieser’s approach to muse­um vis­its is less about thor­ough plan­ning and more dri­ven by spon­tane­ity. His fas­ci­na­tion with art push­es him to act on impulse, espe­cial­ly when an art­work sparks his inter­est, mak­ing each vis­it feel like an oppor­tu­ni­ty to find the per­fect piece for his col­lec­tion. This sense of adven­ture dri­ves him to take risks, even if many of his attempts are thwart­ed by muse­um secu­ri­ty or unre­mark­able art­work. Yet, it is this unpre­dictabil­i­ty and the rush that comes with it that keeps Bre­itwieser com­ing back for more.

Dur­ing their time at Gruyères Cas­tle, Breitwieser’s atten­tion is drawn to a cap­ti­vat­ing oil por­trait of an elder­ly woman by the renowned artist Chris­t­ian Wil­helm Ernst Diet­rich. The portrait’s extra­or­di­nary detail and emo­tion­al res­o­nance trig­ger an over­whelm­ing feel­ing of con­nec­tion, an expe­ri­ence that Bre­itwieser rec­og­nizes as akin to Stend­hal syn­drome. This psy­cho­log­i­cal phe­nom­e­non, where the view­er is over­whelmed by the beau­ty of art, is some­thing that Bre­itwieser has stud­ied and iden­ti­fied with­in him­self. It serves as a reminder of the deep, almost spir­i­tu­al con­nec­tion he feels toward art, a con­nec­tion that many dis­miss due to his crim­i­nal behav­ior. Although crit­ics may label him as a mere thief, Bre­itwieser views him­self as some­one who tru­ly appre­ci­ates the emo­tion­al pow­er of art, which he believes most peo­ple over­look.

The psy­cho­log­i­cal assess­ment from Michel Schmidt fur­ther high­lights the com­plex­i­ty of Breitwieser’s char­ac­ter. While Schmidt con­sid­ers him a men­ace to soci­ety, he acknowl­edges that Breitwieser’s actions are not dri­ven by a com­pul­sive need to steal, but rather by his deep emo­tion­al con­nec­tion to the art­works he col­lects. Breitwieser’s jus­ti­fi­ca­tion for his crimes stems from his belief that he is enti­tled to these pieces due to his per­son­al under­stand­ing of their sig­nif­i­cance. He sees him­self not as a thief, but as some­one who appre­ci­ates the art in ways that oth­ers can­not. This mind­set fuels his con­tin­ued thefts, and as his obses­sion grows, so does his dri­ve to take even more valu­able pieces, believ­ing that they are right­ful­ly his to pos­sess.

The piv­otal moment in this chap­ter comes when Bre­itwieser sets his sights on the Diet­rich por­trait. Rec­og­niz­ing the lax secu­ri­ty around the art­work, he shares a know­ing glance with Anne-Cather­ine, sig­nal­ing his intent to steal. With care­ful pre­ci­sion, he uses a car key and his Swiss Army knife to remove the por­trait from its frame, con­ceal­ing it beneath his jack­et as they make their exit. The thrill of the heist fills Bre­itwieser with adren­a­line, yet the cou­ple remains com­posed, swift­ly leav­ing the cas­tle with their prize. As they head back to their car, Bre­itwieser feels a mix­ture of tri­umph and exhil­a­ra­tion, know­ing that they have suc­cess­ful­ly car­ried out their first joint art theft. The por­trait, now hid­den in a suit­case, marks a new chap­ter in their lives as they set off to con­tin­ue their vaca­tion, unaware of the long-last­ing con­se­quences this crime will have on their rela­tion­ship and their future endeav­ors.

This heist rep­re­sents more than just a stolen paint­ing; it solid­i­fies the bond between Bre­itwieser and Anne-Cather­ine, who now share a secret that strength­ens their con­nec­tion. They are no longer just a cou­ple, but part­ners in crime, drawn togeth­er by their shared thrill for steal­ing art. As they dri­ve off to their ski­ing des­ti­na­tion, their sense of accom­plish­ment fuels their excite­ment, but beneath it all, they both know that this act will have pro­found reper­cus­sions. For Bre­itwieser, the por­trait is just anoth­er piece in his grow­ing col­lec­tion, but for Anne-Cather­ine, it sig­ni­fies a deep­er com­mit­ment to the life they’ve cho­sen to lead. Togeth­er, they con­tin­ue to nav­i­gate the fine line between exhil­a­ra­tion and dan­ger, increas­ing­ly entan­gled in the world of art theft.