The present edition comprises the papers presented by the more than 40 specialists participating in the 2nd. Meeting of Research and Documentation of Visual Arts held in 2007 at the CENIDIAP. The texts compiled in this edition, include approaches and varied points of view on the powerful role of painting, photography, documents and cinema, on Mexican folkart, contemporary art, cultural policies, Indian art, and patrimony. The images, both those industrially produced for mass consumption and the generated within the artistic institutions are more than means to convey certain messages and emotions: they constitute a genuine battle field where multiple political, economic, ideological, ethical and aesthetic debates convey.