[Murals, medicine, and memory: The cultural heritage of IMSS as a generator of institutional identity].

The Mexican Institute for Social Security (IMSS) safeguards one of the most significant public art collections in Mexico, composed of murals, sculptures, and architectural works located throughout its medical, administrative, and social facilities across the country. This artistic heritage not only holds aesthetic value but also serves as a visual and symbolic expression of the values that gave rise to the Institute, as well as those of Latin American social medicine. Throughout its historical trajectory, IMSS has used institutional art as an instrument for building a collective identity, embodying principles such as solidarity, equity, the right to health, and social justice, principles that have contributed to strengthening a sense of belonging. This article presents a documentary and reflective review of the role of artistic heritage in the construction of institutional identity, with emphasis on its historical, symbolic, and social functions. It reflects on the importance of reinterpreting this heritage from a contemporary perspective that promotes its dissemination, appropriation, and use in strategies aimed at humanization, as well as its pedagogical, communal, and symbolic roles. The article concludes that preserving, promoting, and making visible IMSS's artistic heritage is a key strategy for consolidating an institutional identity aligned with the humanistic principles that shaped Mexico's social security system.