A Century of Garden History
How a painter's private retreat became one of Morocco's most visited sites
The Painter and His Garden
The story begins with Jacques Majorelle, a French painter born in Nancy in 1886, the son of the celebrated Art Nouveau furniture designer Louis Majorelle. Jacques travelled to Morocco in 1917 to recover his health and was immediately captivated by the light, colours and people of the country. He settled in Marrakech and in 1923 purchased a plot of land on the edge of the palm grove, outside the walls of the old medina.
Over the following years he expanded the property and began planting a garden that would become his life's passion. In 1931 he commissioned the architect Paul Sinoir to build a Cubist-inspired studio villa. Majorelle painted its walls in an intense cobalt blue that he had observed in Moroccan tiles and Berber decoration. The shade became so closely associated with him that it is still known as Majorelle blue.
Majorelle opened the garden to the public in 1947 to help pay for its upkeep. However, financial difficulties, a car accident and declining health eventually forced him to sell parts of the property. He returned to France, where he died in 1962. After his departure the garden fell into neglect for several years.
Key Moments
1923 to 1947
Jacques Majorelle acquires the land, builds his studio villa and assembles a collection of plants from around the world. The garden becomes his private creative laboratory, where planting, colour and architecture are combined like elements of a painting.
1947 to 1980
The garden opens to visitors for the first time. After Majorelle's death the site is threatened by property development, and its future becomes uncertain as maintenance declines and parts of the planting are lost.
1980 to 2008
Fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé purchase the property, saving it from destruction. They restore the garden, increase the plant collection and maintain it open to the public. Saint Laurent described the garden as an inexhaustible source of inspiration.
2008 to Today
After Saint Laurent's death in 2008 his ashes are scattered in the garden. Ownership passes to a non-profit foundation, and the nearby Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech opens in 2017, creating a cultural quarter that attracts visitors from around the world.
The Berber Museum
Majorelle's former studio now houses the Pierre Bergé Museum of Berber Arts. Its collection presents the creativity of the Amazigh peoples of North Africa through jewellery, textiles, weapons, basketry and objects of daily life gathered from the Rif to the Sahara. The highlight for many visitors is a dark, mirrored room displaying silver jewellery beneath a starry ceiling. The museum is a reminder that the garden's colours and patterns are rooted in the much older visual traditions of Morocco.
Why the History Matters to Visitors
Understanding the garden's history changes the way you see it. The blue walls are not decoration added for photographs; they are the original artistic choice of a painter who wanted to frame plants like figures on a canvas. The careful restoration carried out from 1980 onwards explains why the garden feels both historic and impeccably maintained. And the presence of the Berber Museum connects a European painter's vision with the deep cultural heritage of the land in which he chose to live.
When you walk the paths, look for traces of each era: the Art Deco lines of the villa, the mature palms planted decades ago, the more recent additions to the cactus collection, and the memorial dedicated to Yves Saint Laurent. Taking a little time with these details turns a short visit into a meaningful encounter with a century of Moroccan and European cultural exchange.
This historical summary is prepared independently by Jardin Omaëlle SARL from publicly available sources. It is not an official publication of the Fondation Jardin Majorelle, and readers seeking detailed scholarly information should consult the foundation's own publications and the museums on site.