Roberto Burle Marx (1909-1994), was a Brazilian landscape architect who created many outstanding gardens in association with important modern buildings. He replaced European-style formal gardens with his own country’s lush tropical flora.
While studying in art (1928) in Germany, Burle Marx became interested in the tropical plants at the Dahlem Botanical Gardens. After his return to Brazil in 1930, he converted his home into a tropical plant centre, eventually surrounding it with 8,600,000 square feet (800,000 square m) of gardens brimming with thousands of rare species. He was particularly fond of Brazilian orchids, palms, water lilies, and bromeliads.
Burle Marx designed his first garden for the house of Lúcio Costa, who was later one of the architects of the Ministry of Education and Health building (1937–43) in Rio de Janeiro. Burle Marx designed hanging gardens for that building, using Brazilian flora exclusively. Among the many important commissions for gardens that followed were those for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Brasília, the Brazilian pavilion at the Brussels International Exposition of 1958, and the Parque del Este of Caracas, Venez., in 1959. In 1962 Burle Marx designed Flamengo Park, a 300-acre (122-hectare) expanse of reclaimed land along Rio de Janeiro’s waterfront. He did landscaping for the UNESCO Building, Paris (1963), the U.S. Embassy, Brasília (1967, 1972), the Iranian Embassy, Brasília (1971), and the International Airport, Rio de Janeiro (1978).
Marx's work can be summarized in four general design concepts—the use of native tropical vegetation as a structural element of design, the rupture of symmetrical patterns in the conception of open spaces, the colorful treatment of pavements, and the use of free forms in water features. This approach is exemplified by the Copacabana Beach promenade, where native sea breeze resistant trees and palms appear in groupings along Avenida Atlantica. These groupings punctuate Portuguese stone mosaics which form a giant abstract painting where no section along the promenade is the same. This "painting" is viewed from the balconies of hotels, and offers an ever-changing view for those driving along the beach. The mosaics continue the entire two and a half-mile distance of the beach. The water feature, in this case, is of course the ocean and beach, which is bordered by a 30-foot wide continuous scallop patterned mosaic walk. Copacabana Beach is "the most famous beach in Brazil"
Besides his landscape gardening, Burle Marx was a painter and a designer of jewelry, fabrics, and stage sets. He was also one of the first prominent figures in Brazil to criticize that country’s destruction of its rainforests.
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Mr. Roberto Burle Marx 
First gardens
completed in the early 1930s
1938, Rooftop garden at the Ministry of Education and Health 
1953, Ibirapuera Park project, São Paulo, Brazil (Site plan) 
1953, Ibirapuera Park Project, São Paulo 
1953, Ibirapuera Park, Quadricentennial Gardens, São Paulo, Brazil 
1961, Parque del Este Caracas, Venezuela 
1961, Parque del Este Caracas, Venezuela 
1967, Untitled work in collage 
1969, Tapestry for the Santo André Civic Center 
1974, sculptural landmark for the unrealized Praça Sérgio Pacheco
City Hall, Uberlândia project 
1983, Interior Wall, Banco Safra headquarters, São Paulo 
Cavanellas (now Gilberto Strunk) residence in Petrópolis, Brazil 
Cavanellas (now Gilberto Strunk) residence in Petrópolis, Brazil 
Copacabana Beach promenade 
Copacabana Beach promenade 
Copacabana Beach promenade 
Copacabana Beach promenade 
Lush Gardens in Rio 
Lush Gardens in Rio 
Lush Gardens in Rio 
1983, Banco Safra headquarters, São Paulo 
Brazil’s Vargem Grande Farm, private estate 
Mosaic-embedded Biscayne Boulevard, Miami, Florida, 1988–2004 
Mosaic-embedded Biscayne Boulevard, Miami, Florida, 1988–2004 
Cover design for a 1953 issue of Rio magazine 
The Modernist Garden 
The Modernist Garden 
The Modernist Garden 
Design for an Aubusson Tapestry 
Edmundo Cavanellas residence, Petrópolis, Brazil 
Fazenda Vargem Grande, Clemente Gomes residence, Areias, Brazil 
Instituto Moreira Salles, Rio de Janeiro 
Ministry of the Army, Brasília 
Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro 
São Paulo 
Parque del Este, Caracas
FABULOUS! I love public art!
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