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Mexicans have had a talent for art - and a love of bright colors - since pre-Hispanic times. Today, Mexico is covered with murals and littered with galleries of contemporary and historic art, which are a highlight of the country for many visitors. Mexican creativity is also expressed through the country's vibrant folk-art tradition. Pre-Hispanic art consists mainly of stone carvings, frescoes and murals, and ceramics.

The arts were regarded as an important part of the national revival after the revolution, and Mexico's top artists, such as Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros and José Clemente Orozco, were commissioned to decorate important public buildings with large, vivid murals on social and historical themes. Frida Kahlo, who married Rivera, painted anguished self-portraits and grotesque, surreal images that became hugely popular in the 1980s, decades after her death. Renowned Mexican writers include Carlos Fuentes, Jorge Ibargüengoitia and the 1990 Nobel Prize-winner Octavio Paz. In Mexico, Juan Rulfo is generally regarded as the country's supreme novelist. His novel Pedro Páramo has been described as 'Wuthering Heights set in Mexico and written by Kafka.'

Spanish is Mexico's predominant language, but Mexican Spanish differs from Castilian Spanish, the literary and official language of Spain, in two respects: in Mexico, the Castilian lisp has more or less disappeared, and numerous Indian words have been adopted. Around 50 Indian languages are spoken by about 5 million people in Mexico; 15% of these Indians do not speak Spanish.

Although Mexican governments since the revolution have been unsupportive of religion, more than 95% of the population professes to believe in Catholicism. While most of the indigenous people are Christian, their Christianity is usually fused with more ancient beliefs. Whole hierarchies of 'pagan' gods sometimes coexist with the Christian Trinity and saints. Since 1531, the most binding symbol of the Church has been the dark-skinned Virgin of Guadalupe, who is regarded as a link between Catholic and non-Catholic Indian worlds.

Mexican cuisine is centered around three national staples: tortillas, fried beans and chili peppers. Tortillas are thin round patties of pressed corn or wheat-flour dough cooked on griddles. Beans (frijoles) are eaten boiled, fried or refried, in soups, on tortillas or with just about anything. Apart from an astonishing array of freshly squeezed fruit juices (jugos), which are readily available from street stalls, Mexico is also famous for its alcoholic beverages - mezcal and tequila in particular. Pulque is a mildly alcoholic drink derived directly from the sap of the maguey.