The Majorelle Garden was planned by Jacques Majorelle (1886-1962), the son of Nancy’s Art Nouveau ébéniste (cabinet maker), Louis Majorelle. Jacques Majorelle, a young ambitious painter, was sent to Morocco in 1917 to recover from a serious medical ailment. After a brief stay in Casablanca, he traveled to Marrakech, where he, like many of his contemporaries, fell in love with the brilliant colors and street life. He eventually decided to reside permanently in Marrakech after traveling throughout North Africa and the Mediterranean.

Majorelle established himself as a prominent Orientalist painter during his career. The distinctive hue of vivid cobalt blue, bleu Majorelle—Majorelle Blue, was inspired by the colored tiles he had seen around Marrakech and in Berber burn-houses and was utilized widely in the garden and its buildings. Majorelle patented the color that bears his name before his death. [when?]

Majorelle purchased a four-acre parcel on the edge of a palm grove in Marrakech in 1923, just four years after his marriage to Andrée Longueville, and built a mansion in the Moroccan style. He commissioned architect Paul Sinoir to create a Cubist mansion for the land in 1931. He gradually acquired more land, increasing his stake by about 10 acres. Majorelle began developing a lush garden in the grounds surrounding the mansion, which became known as the Jardins Majorelle (Majorelle Garden). The garden became his life’s work, and he worked on it for nearly forty years. Continue reading