Engaging public programming showcases the sights and sounds of Braziland itslively contributions to music and dance evoking Rio de Janeiro, the “Cidade Maravilhosa” (“Wonderful City”) that Roberto Burle Marx called homeand inspired his life and work.
Contemporary landscape architect Raymond Jungles, who was a protégé of Burle Marx, has designed a Modernist Garden on a portion of NYBG’s Conservatory Lawn, an Explorer’s Garden in a Seasonal Exhibition Galleryof the Conservatory, and a Water Garden in the Conservatory’s Hardy Courtyard.
Contemporary landscape architect Raymond Jungles, who was a protégé of Burle Marx, has designed a Modernist Garden on a portion of NYBG’s Conservatory Lawn, an Explorer’s Garden in a Seasonal Exhibition Galleryof the Conservatory, and a Water Garden in the Conservatory’s Hardy Courtyard.
Roberto Burle Marx liked to tell the story of his arrival in Berlin in the late 1920s as a young man, in the German capital to steep himself in European culture. When he checked out the city’s botanical garden, the scales dropped from his eyes.
Surprisingly for him, the botanic conservatories contained the living treasures of Amazonia, plants he had never seen in Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro. The gardens of the Brazilian bourgeoisie were full of roses, geraniums, clipped hedges and other floral markers of Western “civilization.”
Thus began Burle Marx’s lifelong passion for garden design with Brazilian plants, for discovering and conserving new native species, and for the prescient cause of fighting the agricultural destruction of the tropical habitats of his homeland and the lungs of the world.
Surprisingly for him, the botanic conservatories contained the living treasures of Amazonia, plants he had never seen in Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro. The gardens of the Brazilian bourgeoisie were full of roses, geraniums, clipped hedges and other floral markers of Western “civilization.”
Thus began Burle Marx’s lifelong passion for garden design with Brazilian plants, for discovering and conserving new native species, and for the prescient cause of fighting the agricultural destruction of the tropical habitats of his homeland and the lungs of the world.
In theModernist Garden, strikingly patterned paths lead through extensive curvilinearplanting beds to an open plaza with a large pool framed by awall carved in relief, its creation influenced by a Burle Marx installation in the Banco Safraheadquartersin SãoPaulo.
Other inspirations include Burle Marx’s work in private landscapes, such as the garden of the residence of Edmundo Cavanellas in Petrópolis; constructed landscapes, such as the roof garden at the Ministry of Education and Public Health and Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro; and large parks, such as the Parque del Este in Caracas, Venezuela.
The plant palette includesbromeliads, elephant’s-ears, colorful annuals, and other plants characteristic of Burle Marx’s pioneering work. Mature palm specimens, primarily Brazilian and Caribbeannatives,dotted throughoutthe site provide a sense of scale and enhance the tropical nature of thegarden.
The Explorer’s Garden highlights many of the tropical rainforest plants, including those that were among Burle Marx’s favorites and were often incorporated into the landscapes he designed. The more intimate indoor installation is inspired by Burle Marx’s efforts to introduce Brazilians to their country’s remarkable biodiversity through his landscape designs. The bold forms of philodendrons, elephant’s-ears, bromeliads, and other plants favored by Burle Marx areon display.
The Water Garden explores Burle Marx’s plantsmanship, celebrating his use of plants from a variety of tropical regions in his designs in Brazil and beyond. Palms create scale, bromeliads provide texture, and a wall of staghorn ferns lends a sense of botanical whimsy. A pool contains hardy water lilies from NYBG’s collections, augmented with tropical water lilies and other aquatic plants favoredby Burle Marx, including a hybrid of the enormous, much-celebratedVictoria amazonica, which produces leaves that can grow to three meter in diameter.
A full-colorillustrated catalogue, published in association with the exhibition, features essays by Dr. Sullivan and other scholars and includes an interview with Raymond Jungles.
