It has been 100 years since the birth of muralism in Mexico, one of the plastic and social movements that best represented the feeling of the 20th century in the country and the city. The Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso was its place of origin between 1921 and 1922, and David Alfaro Siqueiros and Diego Rivera were two of its greatest representatives.
If San Ildefonso was the starting point of muralism, La Raza National Medical Center is considered one of the final destinations of Rivera's work before his death in 1957. Inaugurated on February 10, 1954, the hospital is an impressive architectural work that houses two large murals: 'Por una Seguridad Completa y para todos los Mexicanos' by David Alfaro Siqueiros, and 'La historia de la medicina en México: El pueblo en demanda de salud' by Rivera.
With the theme of "the benefit of health for the people" as the narrative axis, both murals complement each other, being Rivera the one who gets the prestigious place in the main lobby of the hospital to carry it out thanks to the architect of the project Enrique Yañez.
Uniting the history of pre-Hispanic medicine with modern medicine, Rivera created the mural with a Venetian mosaic base, and placing the goddess of lust and illicit love Tlazoltéotl as the main figure giving birth. 'The History of Medicine in Mexico' covers a total of 120 square meters and Rivera received $78, 750.00 pesos at the time for it.
For his part, Siqueiros stipulated in a contract that his work, 'Por una Seguridad Completa y para todos los Mexicanos', which is in the lobby of the main auditorium, not be distorted or censored or it would be suspended.
"To fulfill its historic mission, [the IMSS] would have to cover all the problems of social security and on a national scale. Hence the reason for my mural at the Hospital de la Raza," Siqueiros explained.
In September 2018, one year after the last major earthquake in the CDMX, both murals were restored due to the damage caused by the murals.
Today it is possible to visit the murals at the Centro Medico La Raza at Calzada Vallejo and Paseo de las Jacarandas S/N, colonia La Raza.
Photos Eugenio Zetina Calan