French artist Jacques Majorelle (1886–1962) came to Marrakech in 1919 to recuperate from his heart problems and immediately saw the painterly potential of southern Morocco.
Louis Majorelle
Louis Majorelle was the painter’s equally famous father. A French decorator and furniture designer, he was one of the leading exponents of the Art Nouveau style. His work is displayed in celebrated museums, such as the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.
The plants
A beautiful bamboo “forest” and an arid cactus garden with species from around the world share garden space (below). Most stunning of all are the flowering masses of red and purple bougainvillea.
Bassins and fountains
The garden has a fountain and two large bassins or pools (left), the smaller fed by a sloping channel. Next to the museum, a third pool is filled with golden carp.
Boutique
In the northeast corner, a small boutique sells an interesting array of quality local handicrafts including clothing, jewellery and miscellaneous leather products such as bags, sandals and beautifully bound notebooks. However, there is a notable paucity of information concerning Majorelle and his garden.
Islamic Art Museum
The painter’s former studio now houses a small but well-presented collection that includes Berber jewellery, fine embroidery and carved wooden items.
Majorelle’s paintings
The museum’s first room has a series of lithographs depicting various Atlas kasbahs. Some of Majorelle’s most acclaimed works were the tourism posters that he created for Morocco.
Majorelle blue
The name Majorelle lives on in an electrifying shade of cobalt blue inspired by the Berber homes of southern Morocco. His former studio is strikingly painted in this colour.
Bassins and fountains
The garden has a fountain and two large bassins or pools (left), the smaller fed by a sloping channel. Next to the museum, a third pool is filled with golden carp. Petrol station
At the corner of Boulevard de Safi, this petrol station was designed by Jean-François Zevaco and is possibly the city’s most striking modernist building.
Doors and ceilings
Arguably the highlight of the museum is its collection of wooden doors and ceilings (below), all beautifully carved. Some of the ceiling panels are painted but most impressive are the huge double doors dating from the 17th to the 19th centuries.
Yves Saint- Laurent French designer Yves Saint-Laurent first visited the city in 1962. By the end of the ’60s, he’d bought his first house here, a palatial place in the medina known as the “House of the Serpent”. Later, he moved into a villa next to Majorelle Gardens, which he purchased and saved from being destroyed to make way for an apartment complex. Saint- Laurent still spends part of each year in the city.
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