Crossover:
When Pop Culture Meets the Old Masters
Contemporary Visual Mythology · The Echo of Centuries in Art
In this contemporary figurative painting series, Marco Santos merges classical mythology with pop culture, creating a unique visual crossover.
Art history does not progress in a straight line: it folds back on itself, transforms, and re-emerges in new forms. Each era has created its own symbols to make sense of the world. Where once these took the form of gods, saints, or biblical heroes, today those same narrative structures survive in the icons of popular culture.
Figures such as Superman or Neo do not represent a break from tradition, but rather its natural evolution—new incarnations of the archetype of the savior, the chosen one, the hero who transcends the human condition. The human need to create icons has not disappeared; it has simply changed its form.
These works exist within a visual multiverse in which the sacred, the fictional, and the everyday do not contradict one another. Just as classical masters portrayed their contemporaries through recognizable figures, in this series it is contemporary icons—from cinema, comics, and animation—that occupy that same symbolic role.
Not as a mere homage, but as a reinterpretation of the archetypes that have shaped the history of art: an alternative timeline where art history and popular culture converge. Myths do not belong to a specific era. They evolve, migrate, and adapt, while retaining their essential function.
Click to explore the available works in the selected galleries.

Saint Jude Thaddeus and the Figure of Hope
Oil on panel- 50x40cm – 2025

The Annunciation of the One who came from the Sky
Oil on canvas – 60x80cm – 2025

Catlady and Raccoon with the carrot Soup
Oil on canvas – 64.5×49.5cm – 2025

Lady and Dog with Superheroes
Oil on canvas – 74.5×64.5cm – 2025

The God of Mischief at Home
Oil on canvas – 60x50cm – 2024

Salvator, Am I the One?
Oil on canvas – 55x40cm – 2024

Murphy Among the Doctors
Oil on canvas – 50x60cm – 2024

Portrait of a Doctor
Oil on canvas – 36x30cm – 2023

Lady with the Evil Creatures
Oil on canvas – 55.5×45.5cm – 2023

Wonder Lady with the imaginary Unicorn
Oil on canvas – 79.5×59.5cm – 2023

The Form of the Destructor haunts Italy Square
Oil on canvas – 44x44cm – 2023

The Concert: Flight of the Rocket Man to the “Sonne”
Oil on canvas – 49x64cm – 2023

Whistler’s Mother: Clicker hunter edition
Oil on canvas – 57x57cm – 2023

The Figure
Oil on canvas – 68×52.5cm – 2022

The lunch with Mr. Candie
Oil on canvas – 64.5×74.5cm – 2022

The Milk Freak
Oil on canvas – 77x57cm – 2022

American Hero
Oil on canvas – 78x78cm – 2022

The Great Starro
Oil on canvas – 54.5×42.5cm – 2021

Madonna with the Child
Oil on canvas – 74.5×54.5cm – 2021

Murder at a Window
Oil on canvas – 54.5×44.5cm – 2021

The Key of Love
Oil on canvas – 66×51.5cm – 2021

The Son of Anarchy
Oil on canvas – 67×51.5cm – 2021

Lady with a Mogwai
Oil on canvas – 60x45cm – 2020

The Transfiguration of the first one
Oil on canvas – 63.5x48cm – 2020

Retrato sin collar de espinas
Oil on canvas – 57x48cm – 2019
Classical Techniques, Contemporary Narratives
From Gods to Superheroes: Modern Archetypes
Timeless Myths in a Visual Multiverse
Myths never disappear—they evolve.
Since ancient times, societies have created symbolic figures to give form to their beliefs, fears, and aspirations. Gods, saints, and legendary heroes were not merely characters, but representations of universal values that helped make sense of the world.
Today, these same archetypes persist in new forms. Figures such as Superman, Neo, and other icons of contemporary culture embody similar narratives: sacrifice, redemption, and the tension between the human and the extraordinary.
Rather than a break from tradition, pop culture continues a millennia-old lineage. In this series, these icons take the place once occupied by the sacred, functioning as new symbols of collective identity within contemporary painting.
