...::: Jardim Majorelle :::...

Jacques Majorelle

Jacques Majorelle was born in 1886 within a family of artists. His father, Louis Majorelle, celebrate cabinetmaker of Nancy, give him the opportunity to enter in the middle closed of the artists of the time. Guided by the friends of this one he enters then to Fine Arts of Nancy in 1901, then to the Julian Paris Academy. Trained by the fashion of the "easel in the nature", he is initially inspired by Brittany. It is in Spain, where he goes to look after a tuberculosis , that he discovers his passion for the south. Thus, he develops at the heart of the Mediterranean a very particular vision, retiring of the classic presentations, to encourage quick tones of the fauvism, the simple shapes, and the original topics. Since 1910 he discovers Egypt and the Nile. He visits the orient with a new look, deprived of all orientalist fantasies.

In 1919 Jacques Majorelle settles in the medina of Marrakech where he frequents the French upper middle class. Scholarly lover of the souks aesthetic, he captures in his pictures light, the colors, the nuances of the daily life. This traveler painter was attracted by the berber regions of the Atlas authenticity. The geometry sorb of the villages and the kasbahs of clay also fascinated him. The south of Morocco occupied a big part of his existence, whereas it would have been able to limit himself to social life surrounding the marshal Lyautey, big fun of his works.

Beside his canvasses, Majorelle achieved some posters in the promotion of tourism in Morocco, and he took part in the decoration of the Mamounia hotel in Marrakech. Between 1945 and 1952 the quest of beauty brought him to discover the black Africa (Sudan, Guinea, the Ivory Coast, Niger and Senegal), where he carries out a set of canvasses of glaring contrasts, showing a great creativity as well on the level of the techniques used as of the treated topics.

The creation of Majorelle Garden
Nevertheless, Jacques Majorelle always came back in the haven of peace that he constructed in 1924 in border of palm grove in Marrakech. His main residence, currently private property of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé, was created in the image of Marrakech palaces: architectural simplicity, games of water and lush vegetation. In 1931, the architect Paul Sinoir conceived the blue workshop, nowadays seat of the Islamic art museum. Majorelle rushed then in the creation of a botanical garden and brought plants from the whole world: cactus, yucas, water lilies, jasmines, bougainvilleas… This small paradise initially place of inspiration and rest is open to the public since 1947. following a car accident Jacques Majorelle went back to France where he died in 1962.

A new area
After Majorelle’s disappearance, the garden remained open to the public and underwent strong deteriorations. In 1980 Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé, until there visitors and admirers of the Majorelle garden, repurchased it, thus saving it real speculations which devastated the inheritance of Marrakech gardens. Work of restoration starts then, that lead in January 2001 to the creation of the safeguard and the radiance of the Majorelle garden association, assuring its everlastingness thus, a discreet patronage of Pierre Bergé et Yves Saint Laurent guaranteed the flight and the good working of the garden until the association becomes autonomous.

in http://www.jardinmajorelle.com/en/index.php?page=historic photos by M.J.