Majorelle Garden
Encyclopedia
Botanical garden
A botanical garden The terms botanic and botanical, and garden or gardens are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word botanic is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names...
and artist's landscape garden in Marrakech
Marrakech
Marrakech or Marrakesh , known as the "Ochre city", is the most important former imperial city in Morocco's history...
, Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
. It was designed by the expatriate French artist Jacques Majorelle
Jacques Majorelle
Jacques Majorelle , son of the celebrated Art Nouveau furniture designer Louis Majorelle, was a French painter. He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Nancy in 1901 and later at the Académie Julian in Paris with Schommer and Royer.In 1919 he went to Marrakech, Morocco to recover from heart...
in the 1920s and 1930s, during the colonial period when Morocco was a protectorate of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
History
Majorelle was the son of the Art NouveauArt Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
ébéniste
Ébéniste
Ébéniste is the French word for a cabinetmaker, whereas in French menuisier denotes a woodcarver or chairmaker. The English equivalent for "ébéniste," "ebonist," is never commonly used. Originally, an ébéniste was one who worked with ebony, a favoured luxury wood for mid-seventeenth century...
of Nancy, Louis Majorelle
Louis Majorelle
Louis-Jean-Sylvestre Majorelle, usually known simply as Louis Majorelle, was a French decorator and furniture designer who manufactured his own designs, in the French tradition of the ébéniste...
. Though Majorelle's gentlemanly orientalist watercolors are largely forgotten today (many are preserved in the villa's collection), the gardens he created is his creative masterpiece. The special shade of bold cobalt blue which he used extensively in the garden and its buildings is named after him, bleu Majorelle
Majorelle Blue
Majorelle Blue is a clear, intense, fresh blue.In 1924 the French artist Jacques Majorelle constructed his largest art work, the Majorelle Garden in Marrakech, Morocco, and painted the garden walls, fountains, features and villa this very intense shade of blue, for which he trademarked the name...
—Majorelle Blue.
The garden hosts more than 15 bird species that are endemic to North Africa. It has many fountains, and a notable collection of cacti.
Yves Saint-Laurent
The garden has been open to the public since 1947. Since 1980 the garden has been owned by Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre BergéPierre Bergé
Pierre Bergé is a French industrialist and patron. He is perhaps best known as the co-founder of Yves Saint Laurent Couture House and former partner of fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent.-Early life:...
.
After Yves Saint Laurent died in 2008 his ashes were scattered in the Majorelle Garden.