The Art of the Steal
IFC Films | Release Date: February 26, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
75
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
What is finally clear: It doesn't matter a damn what your will says if you have $25 billion, and politicians and the establishment want it. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
It's memorable when it meditates on the changing face of where we look at art, and how that changes the art itself. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianStan Hall
Packed with more intrigue and excitement than one might expect. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
I can agree that the power brokers in this scenario, who effectively broke Barnes's will, have far more interest in tourism than in masterpieces. But casting this story as a battle between the elites and the philistines mischaracterizes the situation. Read full review
80
Village VoiceMelissa Anderson
The Art of the Steal's thorough research, bolstered by many fiery talking heads, makes it one of the most successful advocacy docs in recent years and may prompt some firsthand investigating of your own. Read full review
80
Time OutJoshua Rothkopf
Despite the unsubtlety of the movie’s stance, a dizzyingly complex portrait emerges: that of pissed-off museum neighbors, arrogant critics and even the NAACP’s dignified Julian Bond, articulating a racial component. Read full review
80
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
One weakness is the too-brief, tantalizing peeks inside the Barnes. Yet, like the movie as a whole, this limitation comes with dividends: it made me want to hop on a plane to Philadelphia as soon as possible to see the original before it’s emptied. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Calculated to enrage and pulling it off like gangbusters, Don Argott’s documentary The Art of the Steal pits the legacy of the late Albert C. Barnes’s Barnes Foundation (which boasts arguably the world’s finest collection of French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art) against the social-climbing, philistine, downright Nixonian machinations of Philadelphia’s wealthiest--who gamed the system and pried the collection loose in defiance of Barnes’s legal will. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderCliff Doerksen
Documentary maker Don Argott (Rock School) beautifully explicates how this crew pulled off the most daring daylight art theft in history, though his passionate identification with the pro-Barnes faction limits the movie's political nuance. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Energetically entertaining if a bit one-sided. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
While The Art of the Steal makes a very convincing – even bone-chilling – argument that the people and foundations that essentially hijacked the Barnes Foundation are primarily concerned with tourist dollars and not the preservation of Barnes' legacy, the film fails to even ponder why easier access to some of the world's greatest art treasures might not be an entirely bad thing. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
A damning example of justice bending toward those who can most afford to buy it. Read full review
75
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike Scott
The Art of the Steal is activist filmmaking, but it's well-done activist filmmaking. And, given that the Barnes fight isn't quite yet over, it could also become the most most important kind of filmmaking: the kind that makes a difference. Read full review
70
Boxoffice MagazinePam Grady
The film can be dry and a little repetitive. For all of that, it still manages to generate a surprising measure of suspense and it produces outrage in abundance. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
What The Art of the Steal documents most dramatically is the irresistible pull of irreplaceable art. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
As a movie, Steal is as finely wrought as the decorative ironworks that hang on the walls of the Barnes between Picassos and Seurats. Yet as a narrative of the facts, it is as one-sided as a plaintiff's brief. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
The movie’s never less than entertaining, but you often feel like arguing with the screen, and not in a good way. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe Williams
While the rich people who violated a dead antagonist's wishes seem sleazy (especially when they refuse to be interviewed), transporting world-class artwork five miles to a bigger facility where more people can enjoy it hardly seems like the end of civilization as we know it. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Argott treats Barnes' story as an intellectual crime thriller, uncovering each new surprise -- and a seemingly endless parade of villains -- with a deadpan flourish. Read full review
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