Where art meets nature: Burle Marx's legacy in landscape design traduzido por: OPENROUTER

When it comes to Brazilian landscaping, it is impossible not to mention the name Roberto Burle Marx. Over six decades of work, the landscape designer transformed the way of thinking about gardens by bringing together painting, architecture, botany and tropical nature. His projects broke with traditional models of composition and helped establish a modern language for gardens in Brazil.

Born in São Paulo in 1909 and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Burle Marx had a career that spanned different artistic fields. He was a painter, sculptor, designer, ceramist, set designer, tapestry maker and researcher, in addition to being a landscape designer. He died in Rio de Janeiro in 1994, after designing around 3,000 gardens in Brazil and abroad.

A career born from a passion for Brazilian plants

Burle Marx's interest in Brazilian vegetation grew stronger during the period he lived in Germany, between 1928 and 1929. On a visit to the Dahlem Botanical Garden, in Berlin, he was impressed to find Brazilian tropical species cultivated in the greenhouses and began to observe his country's flora from another perspective. Back in Rio de Janeiro, in 1930, he studied at the National School of Fine Arts, where he came into contact with different artistic languages and with names that would be important for the consolidation of modern Brazilian architecture.

Burle Marx. (Instituto Burle Marx/Divulgação)

It was in this context that he became close to the architect Lúcio Costa, then director of the National School of Fine Arts. The relationship between the two would be decisive for Burle Marx's entry into landscaping: in 1932, Costa invited him to design the garden of a residence he himself had designed in Rio de Janeiro. The work drew attention for incorporating a modern language and valuing tropical plants. In 1934, Burle Marx took over the parks and gardens department of Recife, where he began to develop public projects and consolidated some of the characteristics that would mark his work.

Main characteristics of Burle Marx's work

One of the most recognizable characteristics of his production lies in the connection between painting and landscaping. Plants, paths, reflecting pools and floors were organized as elements of an abstract composition, often with large curved shapes and chromatic contrasts. The garden was no longer just a frame for the architecture and began to actively participate in the project.

Casa Cavanellas: arquitetura de Oscar Niemeyer e paisagismo de Roberto Burle Marx ((Reprodução/Malcon Ragget)/Divulgação)

Another fundamental aspect was the appreciation of Brazilian and tropical flora. Burle Marx researched, collected and cultivated numerous species, including plants little used in the landscaping of his time. Some examples are pau-brasil, jerivá, guaimbê and paineira. The choice was not only aesthetic: he sought to understand the characteristics of each species and its relationship with the climate and soil of the location where it would be used.

Gardens designed as works of art

The landscape designer's production includes projects of different scales, from residential gardens to large public areas. Among his best-known works are the gardens of the former Ministry of Education and Health, in Rio de Janeiro, designed in 1938; the gardens of the Pampulha Complex, in Belo Horizonte; and the landscaping of the Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro.

Conjunto Moderno da Pampulha, em Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. (Qu4rto Studio/Acervo Belotur/Divulgação/Divulgação)

In Rio, his presence is also associated with the Flamengo Park and the design of the Copacabana boardwalk, completed in 1970. In São Paulo, he participated in the landscape design of Ibirapuera Park, in collaboration with Oscar Niemeyer, although the 1953 plan was not executed as originally conceived.

Calçadão de Copabana (onatas Dabravolskas/Divulgação/Divulgação)

His work crossed Brazilian borders. Burle Marx developed projects in other Latin American countries, in the United States, and in Europe, including the gardens of the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. MoMA, in New York, dedicated a retrospective to the artist in 1991 — the museum's first exhibition dedicated to a landscape architect.

Sítio Roberto Burle Marx

Among all the projects, the Sítio Roberto Burle Marx, in Barra de Guaratiba, Rio de Janeiro, holds a special place. Acquired by the artist and his brother in 1949, the site operated for decades as a space for botanical and artistic experimentation, bringing together gardens, buildings, works of art, and a collection of about 3,500 plant species.

Sítio Roberto Burle Marx, na Barra de Guaratiba. (Leo Martins/Agência O Globo/Divulgação)

Burle Marx donated the property to the federal government in 1985, aiming to ensure the continuity of research and the preservation of the ensemble. In 2021, the Sítio was recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, in the category of cultural landscape. The organization highlights precisely its character as a “laboratory” where the artist experimented, for more than four decades, with the combination of modernist ideas and native tropical plants.

A work that continues to flourish

Burle Marx's main contribution was to broaden the understanding of the role of landscaping. His gardens did not function only as green spaces around buildings, but as autonomous compositions, capable of establishing relationships between architecture, art, and nature.

Há 30 anos, morria Roberto Burle Marx, maior nome do paisagismo brasileiro. (TYBA/Divulgação/Divulgação)

Decades after his death, this approach remains present in Brazilian and international landscaping. The recognition of the Sítio as a World Heritage Site reinforces the dimension of his legacy: more than a set of famous gardens, his work represents a particular way of looking at the Brazilian landscape and transforming it into an artistic language.

CASACOR Publisher is an exclusive content creator agent, developed by CASACOR's Technology team based on the knowledge base of casacor.com.br. This text was edited by Milena Garcia.

traduzido por: OPENROUTER