Roberto Burle Marx
    Imagine walking along a path, where there is lush greenery along the ground and an abundance of brilliantly colored flowers.  There are no loud noises; all that is heard is the sound of water trickling down a waterfall a short distance away.  Looking up, there are birds that can be seen peacefully eating fruit produced by the beautiful trees.  The fragrance is like none other; there are no words that can fully describe how appealing the smell is.  Every feature of this environment provides a way to calm the mind and refresh the spirit.   Can a place so remarkable actually exist?  
    Roberto Burle Marx's passion for designing landscapes began at a very young age.  Burle Marx was influenced by his mother's involvement in gardening and also by his father's interest in design.   When he was nineteen, Burle Marx studied painting in Berlin and he spent most of his leisure time in the greenhouses at the Daniem Botanic Garden.  The gardens allowed him to fully appreciate the splendor of Brazilian and tropical plant-life.  He continued his education at the School of Fine Arts in Rio de Janeiro, studying painting and architecture.  Burle Marx's career began when he designed his first landscape for a house designed by Lucio Costa and Gregory Warchavchik.  Burle Marx was greatly influenced by Lucio Costa, because the architect was not inspired by the history and landscape of Europe, but instead he was drawn to the natural beauty of Brazil.  The landscape for the house allowed Roberto to become more widely recognized in Brazil.  As a result, Burle Marx was not only asked to be the manager of The Parks and Gardens of Recife, but he was also nominated to create gardens for the capital and public squares.  Each design used plants that were indigenous to Brazil, including the beautiful caatinga flower.
    In Barra de Guaratiba, which is on the border of Rio de Janiero, Burle Marx bought a large area of 365,000 square miles in order to study the plant life of Brazil. There were species at this site that were unknown to scientists and as a result, Burle Marx was able to contribute to the scientific classification of Brazilian botany.  He extensively studied the ecological groupings of plants and used this knowledge to create not only landscapes that are pleasing to look at, but also ones that are beneficial to the environment.   Burle Marx desired for this area to be the center of all plant studies, and eventually it fulfilled this ideal.  It became a place with over 3,500 species of various plants, including many that were on the verge of extinction.  His work was recognized throughout the world and he actually had plants named after him, including the Philodendron 'Burle-Marx'.  The area was eventually donated to a federal government cultural organization, now known as the National Institute for Cultural Heritage (IPHAN).   The site is now a National Monument to the late landscape designer, called the Roberto Burle Marx home and gardens.
    Throughout his career, Roberto Burle Marx completed over two thousand projects spanning five continents.  His greatest desire was to make Rio de Janeiro a beautiful place for all of the inhabitants.  Though he had been offered to design landscapes for mansions, Burle Marx would rather spend his time working on public parks saying, "They (public parks) return to the people the green that the city stole from them."  The KLCC park is a fine example of his passion to provide a place of relaxation in the middle of a large city.  Burle Marx made sure to include large trees to provide shade, beautiful flowers that draw attention, vast open spaces to allow for recreation, and calming water fountains.  The beaches of Copacabana are his most recognized work and considered to be his best; the five km promenade is one large mosaic masterpiece.  Roof gardens were a radical form of landscape design perfected by Burle Marx, in Rio de Janiero, at the Niemeyer's Ministry of Education and the Sousa Hospital. 
    Landscape has been revolutionized by Roberto Burle Marx's idea of combining modern architecture with the simple beauty of nature.  He once said, "A garden is a complex of aesthetic and plastic intentions; and the plant is, to a landscape artist, not only a plant - rare, unusual, ordinary or doomed to disappearance - but it is also a color, a shape a volume or an arabesque in itself."  The founding of a landscape company, Burle Marx & Company, allows the tradition of Burle Marx to continue.  His genius will live on because of the magnificent gardens he has left for the entire world to see.  Roberto Burle Marx enabled everyone to see what a true paradise looks like!