Marx's first landscaping inspirations came while studying painting in Germany, where he often visited the Dahlem Botanical Gardens and first learned about Brazil's native flora. Upon returning to Brazil in 1930, he began collecting plants in and around his home. In 1932, Burle Marx designed his first landscape for a private residence by the architects Lucio Costa and Gregori Warchavchik.

In 1949 he acquired an estate the 365,000m2 estate Barra de Guaratiba (just outside of Rio de Janeiro) to house his growing collection of plants. This property was donated to the Brazilian government in 1985 and became a national monument. Now called Sítio Roberto Burle Marx, under the direction of IPHAN-Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional / Ministério da Cultura, it houses over 3,500 species of plants and can be reached at (21) 2410-1412. The house was rebuilt in a valley opening on the site of a garden house belonging to the original plantation estate.

Roberto Burle Marx founded a landscape studio in 1955 and in the same year he founded a landscape company, called Burle Marx & Cia. Ltda.

Much of his work has a sense of timelessnes and perfection. His creations were each unique expressions of thought. His aesthetics were often nature based, for example, never mixing flower colours, utilisation of big groups of the same specimen, using native plants and making a rocky field into relaxing garden. He was very interested in each plant's character and what effect that has on the whole garden.

He spent a lot of time in the Brazilian forests where he was able to study and explore. This enabled him to add significantly to the botantical sciences, by discover new rocks plants for example. At least 30 plants bear his name.

Work

• Landscape design of some gardens in the public buildings of Brasília

*Ministry of Army - water garden and excellent use of concrete forms.

*Foreign Affairs Building

*Ministry of Education - roof garden completed in 1937. Marx gained international recognition and admiration for this abstract design.

• Copacabana promenade - Pavement landscape, large scale (4 km long) mosaic completed in 1970 on famous Rio de Janeiro beach. (Influenced by Portuguese pavement (Portuguese, Calçada Portuguesa))
• Ibirapuera Park, São Paulo, 1954
• Flamengo Park - large public park in Rio de Janeiro built on landfill
• Venetian Palace - entrance, and extreme use of scale.
• Parque del Este, Caracas, Venezuela
• Cascade Garden, Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania
• Biscayne Boulevard, Miami, Florida (Completed posthumously)
• Peru Square, Buenos Aires, Argentina (Demolished)
• Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) Park, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

References

• William Howard Adams (1991). Roberto Burle Marx: The Unnatural Art of the Garden. Museum of Modern Art, New York. ISBN 0-8109-6096-6.
• S. Eliovson, R. Burle Marx (1991). The Gardens of Roberto Burle Marx. Timber Press. ISBN 0-88192-160-2.
• M. Schwartz, M. I. Montero, R. Burle Marx (2001). Roberto Burle Marx. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-23290-9.
• Roberto Burle Marx (1982). A Garden is Like a Poem. World Microfilms. ISBN 1-85035-075-2.

Giulio G. Rizzo: Roberto Burle Marx. Il giardino del Novecento. Cantini editore. Florence, 1992

External links

• Roberto Burle Marx in Encyclopædia Britannica.
• Burle Marx & CIA. LTDA.
• Sitio Burle Marx: official web page from IPHAN (Portuguese)
• Sitio Roberto Burle Marx Tourist guide page with many pictures.
• Roberto Burle Marx (LandLiving.com)