AUTHOR: Valentina Martin Millán
Apasionada por la arquitectura, la ilustración y la naturaleza. Buscando construir un mundo más sensible para todos los seres vivos.
Have you ever found yourself walking in the middle of nature walks and thought about how fascinating it is to see how plants naturally combine with each other and how nature is so perfect in all its expressions?
The landscape artist and painter Burle Marx thought the same way when he said:
“God, for me, is nature”.
People like Burle Marx were able to understand the dynamics of nature to give an original touch to their designs, without intervening abruptly in its innate development.
The landscape architect and painter was one of the most influential people of the 20th century in Latin America. However, it was not until he left his country, Brazil, that he fell in love with nature and ventured into landscape design.
Burle Marx, who comes from a Brazilian-German family, traveled in his youth to Germany to visit his paternal family. It was on this trip that the landscape painter found the botanical garden of Dahlem and was able to appreciate the native nature of Brazil in its greatest expression: the blooming. He drew bromeliads, philodendrons, water lilies, among many others. He spent all his free time in the botanical garden, while continuing his painting classes.
Then, in 1929, he returned to Brazil, full of inspiration and fascinated by the movement that predominated in Germany at the time, German Cubism. At this time, Burle Marx decided to continue his studies of Fine Arts in Brazil, however, he never finished them.
Together with his family, he lived in São Paulo next to a well-known neighbor, the urban architect Lúcio Costa. Who, at such a young age, was already an art director, and after seeing the talent Burle had decided to commission his first job, which was to design the rooftop garden of Alfredo Schwartz's house in Rio de Janeiro. His design was so avant-garde and modern that it was a great success, making Burle a legendary character.
Burle was the first to design landscapes with plants native from Brazil, which for these times was sacrilege. At this time, the gardens of France were what everyone wanted to aspire to. However, Burle decided to turn this concept on its head, exalting the natural wonder of Brazil in all his designs.
Thanks to this new concept, Burle was appointed director of the administration of parks and gardens of Recife in 1934. After that, he designed several parks and public and private spaces. Among his most outstanding works we can find the Malecón de Copacabana, the Santo Antônio da Binca Sitio, Gardens of the University of Brazil, Pampulha Airport Garden, Landscaping of the Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro, Landscaping of Ipanema Park, Landscaping for the Monumental Axis of Brasilia, Landscaping of the Brazilian Embassy in Washington, among others.
In addition, Burle had an innate artist in him, as he loved to paint in a modern style. In fact, the plants in his landscape designs could easily appear to be paintings.
One of his most outstanding works was his own home, where he lived for more than 20 years. It was an estate known as the Sítio Santo Antônio da Binca, which became his home and home to many species of exotic plants from Brazil and Latin America, some in danger of extinction. Here was the place where Burle Marx could be at his most expressive, not only as a landscape painter, but also as an artist. He loved painting tablecloths, creating floral combinations on tables, carving, collecting art, among many other things. Burle had many hobbies, which he was able to dedicate a good part of his life to.
Currently, this place belongs to the Brazilian State, since 10 years before his death, in 1984, Bourle decided to give it to the Brazilian State for later conservation.
Burle died in 1994, aged 84. His last project was the Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz in Berlin, which he was unable to complete, being at the same time the city where he had first fallen in love with nature.
More than 20 years have passed, and we can firmly say that Burle Marx has not been forgotten. His passion for nature, art, his German-Jewish heritage and his love for Brazil, we see it intrinsic in all his works. In addition, he left us one of the best aerial views in the world, the design of the Copacabana promenade in Rio de Janeiro. Where he demonstrated all his qualities in designing an analogy to the sea, with his modernist vision. The waves in black and white, resembling the sea of the famous Rio, using limestone tiles in black and white. A true spectacle!