In 1953, the Casa del Arquitecto in Mexico City organized a conference on the integration of the arts in which several artists and architects participated. This included David Alfaro Siqueiros, the painter and architect Juan O’Gorman (1905-1982), Raúl Cacho and Enrique del Moral (1905-1987). Several articles on the talks held at the conference were published in the press. Among them, Siqueiros’ “Arquitectura internacional a la zaga de la mala pintura” [“The International Architecture Behind Bad Painting”] (see doc. 786079) and “En torno a la integración plástica” [“On the Integration of the Arts]” by Carlos Mérida (1891-1984). Mérida’s ideas on integration take a turn in this latter article. His thoughts lead him to conceive of a holistic architecture structured in such a way that the direct participation of visual artists would not be necessary. Thus he leaves behind the idea of a close collaboration among architects, painters and sculptors that would have begun at a building’s concept stage. Mérida had explored this idea in previous writings (see doc. 733512). Through his writings, Mérida spans more than six decades of the art milieu in Mexico. His vision, fiercely critical and seductive, reflects the thoughts of a person who not only shared the space and time of the diverse developments of the art in the world, but who also contributed new readings and distinct analytical viewpoints from those that marked his era. The painter not only wrote about the evolution of the visual arts in Mexico, but also on the topics of caricature, photography, dance, film, design and folk art both in Mexico, and in his native Guatemala. In addition, Mérida wrote profound reflections on the composition, meaning and function of art. The manuscript with annotations is available to researchers and can be found at the archives of the Museo Nacional de Arte [MUNAL, Mexico City].