The Majorelle Gardens are a must see for all visitors to Marrakesh. The Majorelle Gardens are beautiful with lots of nooks and crannies, and often exhibit a marvellous sense of tranquility. They were the creation of Jacques Majorelle, who was born in 1886 in Nancy (France). Jacques Majorelle was the son of the celebrated art nouveau furniture designer Louis Majorelle, and studied art at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and later at the Academie Julian in Paris. Jacques Majorelle settled in Marrakech in 1919, where he worked as an artist and soon purchased the area which was to become the Majorelle gardens. And although Majorelle’s orientalist watercolors are largely forgotten, many are preserved in the villa’s collection held within the garden which he created in 1924, and opened to the public in 1947. The Majorelle Gardens are now considered to be his greatest masterpiece, and hosts more than 15 bird species, which can be found only in this area of North Africa. The special shade of bold cobalt blue which he used extensively in the garden and its buildings is named after him majorelle blue.

Following a car accident, Jacques Majorelle returned to france, where he died in 1962. In 1980 Pierre Bergé and Yves Saint Laurent purchased the garden and restored it to its former glory. The garden now also houses the Islamic Art Museum of Marrakech, which shelters the magnificent Islamic art collection of Pierre Bergé and Yves Saint Laurent as well as ceramics, jewelry, and paintings by Majorelle. After Yves Saint Laurent died in 2008 his ashes were scattered in the Majorelle Gardens.

The enclosed photographs have been taken over a number of years.