Landscape Architect, Brazil Roberto Burle Marx was born in São Paulo, Brazil, on 9 August 1909. A painter, muralist, sculptor, designer, architect, botanist, and landscape architect, Burle Marx is said to be the greatest single influence on gardens since the development of the English tradition in the 18th century. The son of a wealthy family of European descent (his father Wilhem was born in Trier, the same city as Karl Marx), Burle Marx moved with his family to Rio de Janeiro, where he was educated in music and the arts from an early age. Before entering the Brazilian School of Beaux Arts (ENBA) in 1930, Burle Marx spent two years in Europe, mainly in Germany. There, in an encounter that would influence his whole life, he fell in love with Brazilian native plants in a botanical museum. Not yet valued by the Brazilian elite, which at that time saw themselves as Europeans in the tropics, the Brazilian flora impressed the young Burle Marx. It is worth noting that in the 19th century, Br...