- © 2008 Canadian Medical Association
The first half of the 20th-century saw the birth of the Mexican muralist movement, which, in the post-revolutionary period, was primarily concerned with exalting the great social, technical and scientific movements that were taking place in Mexico and elsewhere in the world. One of the areas that caught the muralists' interest and admiration was medicine. To them, health was an innate right of the human race, thus it had to be available to the general population, just like art and culture.1
The artists rejected canvas and chose the large, open and public spaces of walls to deliver their images to the public. Many of Mexico's greatest murals are located in health institutions. The National Institute of Cardiology, the La Raza Hospital, the central offices of the Institute of Social Security, the National Institute of Pediatrics and the National Medical Center all had their walls decorated by the frescoes of Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Juan O'Gorman, José Chávez Morado, Jorge Gonzàlez Camarena and many others. Social security was an important step toward making health care accessible to everyone and the muralists were enthusiastic about celebrating this through their paintings on the walls of these newly built hospitals.1,2
The Institute of Social Security's National Medical Center, built in 1963, is a large compound comprising several hospitals and clinics. Among them is the Oncology Hospital, one of Mexico's leading oncological health care centres. It was designed to be the flagship hospital for the Institute of Social Security and its creation had a profound social impact in that it provided free, high quality health care. The decoration of the lobby of this building was commissioned to Siqueiros, an accomplished muralist and fervent follower of communism. Siqueiros was one of Mexico's greatest painters, alongside Rivera and José Clemente Orozco, and his oil paintings and murals can be found in the country's most important museums and public institutions, including the main building of Mexico's National Autonomous University. At the Institute of Social Security Oncology Hospital, Siqueiros painted The Future Triumph of Medical Science Over Cancer, a 26-metre-long mural painted in acrylic on wooden panels that highlights the social implications of medicine and its responsibility to the people — one of the underlying principles of Institute of Social Security at that time.3
David Alfaro Siqueiros, The Future Triumph of Medical Science over Cancer (1958). Acrylic over wooden panels. 26 × 2.45 m. A detail from the mural at the Institute of Social Security Oncology Hospital, Mexico City, Mexico. Image by: Enrique Soto-Perez-de-Celis
In the mural, a large assembly of people advances toward a group of doctors, dressed in surgical gowns, located at the centre of the mural. The people are raising their hands in a demand for health. The body of a naked woman rests on a linear particle accelerator, from which a beam of energy seems to shoot toward 2 grotesque creatures that represent cancer. The crowd surrounding the monsters seems to cheer as the ray of science hits the dreadful personifications of disease and death. The focal point of the mural is the handshake between the medical profession and the people, represented by the doctor and the woman. The mural symbolizes the power of medicine as one of the main driving forces behind the well-being of the country and the hope it can bring to those in need. It is important to mention that most of the characters in the mural, including the doctors, are dark-skinned Mexicans. The muralist movement, deeply influenced by the nationalistic politics that followed the Revolution, praised the importance of the indigenous Mexican people in the new world order.1
This detail of the 26-metre-long mural depicts the destruction of cancer, in the form of monsters, to the delight of the cheering crowd. Image by: Enrique Soto-Perez-de-Celis
Siqueiros' fresco at the National Medical Center in Mexico City is a testament to the power of oncology and an expression of admiration for the happiness and prosperity that medical science can bring to the people.
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