What do art images mean for society, politics and History as a whole, particularly in turbulent and crisis times as the contemporary ones? This may be the main question. In fact, we can speak of an expanding and growing field of art images and Visual Culture, however, our goal is to understand how do art images contribute to the construction of social, political and historical field of the Contemporary. We understand the study of image - the image as a result, but mostly as a means actuating - as a key to think about our present times, in their virtues, but also in their cultural, social and political crisis, in their complexity, in their diversity. In a society that believes itself ever more globalized - and although we focus mainly on Western culture -, art images are a privileged field to establish contact with different cultures and languages as well as different ways of looking and seeing. The city of Lisbon has experienced, in recent years, an impressive reconfiguration of its image thanks to the proliferation of urban art. This communication aims reflect on these aspects.