Parque Burle Marx

This guide to Parque Burle Marx in São Paulo follows Roberto Burle Marx, a painter turned landscape designer who spent the 1940s hiking into Brazilian rainforests to find tropical plants nobody thought worth growing. It traces how he collected bromeliads and philodendrons with real botanists, several of which now carry his name. He was also hired to design gardens here for a mansion commissioned by tycoon Baby Pignatari, with Oscar Niemeyer drawing the house itself. Listen for the striped chess lawn and imperial palms lining it.