Majorelle Garden

About this place

The Majorelle Garden is the creation of French painter Jacques Majorelle, who moved permanently to Marrakech in 1919 and became entranced by the city's extraordinary light and color. In 1923, he purchased a palm grove on the outskirts of the city and, over the next forty years, transformed it into a botanical masterpiece. In 1931, architect Paul Sinoir designed a modernist cubist villa and studio for him on the property. Majorelle was an avid plant collector who sourced exotic specimens from across the world — cacti from the Americas, bamboo from Asia, bougainvillea, water lilies, and palms — creating what he called his "most beautiful work." In 1937, he developed an ultramarine cobalt blue paint that became known as "Majorelle Blue," which he used to transform the villa and garden structures into a vivid counterpoint to the lush greenery. Financial difficulties forced him to open the garden to the public in 1947, and after his death in a car accident in 1962, the property fell into neglect. In 1980, fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé purchased the garden to save it from hotel developers, restoring it to its former glory. Yves Saint Laurent's ashes were scattered here after his death in 2008.