The Majorelle Garden is a two and half acre botanical garden and artist’s landscape garden in Marrakech, Morocco.
It was created by the French Orientalist artist, Jacques Majorelle for almost forty years, starting in 1923, and features a Cubist villa designed by the French architect, Paul Sinoir in the 1930s.
The property was the residence of the artist and his wife from 1923 until their divorce in the 1950s.
In the 1980s, the property was purchased by the fashion designers, Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Bergé who worked to restore it.
Today, the garden and villa complex is open to the public. The villa houses the Islamic Art Museum of Marrakech, the Berber Museum and has recently opened the Yves Saint Laurent Museum.
History
The Majorelle Garden was designed by the French artist, Jacques Majorelle, son of the Art Nouveau ébéniste (cabinet-maker) of Nancy, Louis Majorelle.
As a young aspiring painter, Jacques Majorelle was sent to Morocco in around 1917 to convalesce from a serious medical condition.
After spending a short time in Casablanca, he travelled to Marrakech and like many of his contemporaries, fell in love with the vibrant colours and street life he found there.
After travelling around North Africa and the Mediterranean, he eventually decided to settle permanently in Marrakech.
In 1923, just four years after his marriage to Andrée Longueville, Majorelle purchased a four-acre plot, situated on the border of a palm grove in Marrakech and built a house in the Moroccan style.
In 1931, he commissioned the architect, Paul Sinoir, to design a Cubist villa for the property.
Gradually, he purchased additional land, extending his holding by some 10 acres. In the grounds around the residence, Majorelle began planting a luxuriant garden which would become known as the Jardins Majorelle (Majorelle Garden).
The garden became his life’s work and he devoted himself to developing it for almost forty years.
The garden proved costly to run and in 1947, Majorelle opened the garden to the public with an admission fee designed to defray the cost of maintenance.
At times, he sold off parcels of land to fund the growing garden.
Following his divorce in the 1950s, Majorelle was forced to sell the house and land.
After this, the garden was neglected and fell into disrepair. The garden and villa were rediscovered in the 1980s, by fashion designers, Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Bergé who set about restoring it and saving it.
During his lifetime, Majorelle earned a reputation as a celebrated Orientalist painter.
The special shade of bold cobalt blue, inspired by the coloured tiles he had seen around Marrakech and in Berber burn-houses, was used extensively in the garden and its buildings and is named after him, bleu Majorelle—Majorelle Blue. Prior to his death in1962, Majorelle patented the colour which carries his name.
Since 2010, the property has been owned by the Foundation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent, a French not-for-profit organisation, and since 2011 has been managed by the Foundation Jardin Majorelle, a recognized non-profit organization in Marrakech.
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