Catwoman, Princess Leia, and More Wearing 16th-Century Renaissance Clothes

Andy Warhol once said that in the future, everyone would be famous for 15 minutes, which has proven more than true — especially with the development of a little thing called “the Internet.” These days, a quick and easy way to get your name to go viral is by taking an element of our current visual culture and transforming it into something else like drawing a Disney Princess with tattoos! Or draw a Disney Prince as a woman! OK so most of these trends involve Disney characters of some sort, mostly because they hold a particular place in our minds (yes, and hearts), because kids and adults alike have grown up with them and they stand for a very specific thing. Therefore, when you give Snow White a tattoo it’s supposed to “shock” you into thinking “something” about our culture. Deep Stuff.

Hot on the heels of every re-imagination of every Disney character ever, comes the transformation of superheroes. Photographer Sacha Goldberger asked: What if they were subjects of classic Flemish portraiture? Answering his own question, his latest series, called Super-Flemish, heroes and villains dressed up to look like actual oil paintings from the 16th century are pretty amazing. C-3PO with a neck ruff! Superman in brocade! Spiderman in a skirt!

But beyond cool photos featuring some of our favorite characters in really unlikely garb, there’s no real statement or message other than to gain the most clicks possible. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. As we spend more and more time online and we consume so much of our history, news, and entertainment on the World Wide Web, it’s only natural that even “art” starts molding itself into this new mode of communication where the most clicks denote a success.