In 1919 the French painter Jacques Majorelle (1886-1962) settled in the Medina of Marrakech (then under French protectorate) and falls in love.
In 1922, he bought a palm grove on the edge of the Marrakesh in 1931, built by architect Paul Sinoir his studio Art Deco surprisingly modern. It sets up a house on the first floor and a large artist's studio on the ground floor to paint its huge decorations.
Lovers of botany, he created a botanical garden around his villa, organized around a central basin along with several varied environments, planted with lush vegetation where hundreds of birds nest. This garden is a living work of art in motion, with exotic plants and rare species he brought back from his travels around the world: cactus, yuccas, lilies, lilies, jasmine, bougainvillea, palm, coconut, banana , bamboo ... and adorned with fountains, ponds, fountains, ceramic jars, paths, pergolas ...
In 1937 the artist creates an ultramarine both intense and clear blue Majorelle, he painted the walls of his studio, and the whole garden into a tableau that opens to the public in 1947.
Following a car accident, Majorelle is repatriated to Paris where he disappeared in 1962 The garden is then abandoned. In 1980, Pierre Bergé and Yves Saint acquire the Garden to save a construction project and give it new life.
After the death of Yves Saint Laurent in 2008, Pierre Bergé decided to donate the Majorelle Garden in the Fondation Pierre Bergé - Yves Saint Laurent. The Garden hosts over 600,000 visitors a year, tourists and Moroccan citizens; It is open every day of the year and employs more than 70 people. The garden receives free of cost among students in all schools in Morocco. Profits it generates support other projects in Morocco.
The association, founded in 2001 in order to safeguard the historical and cultural ecological heritage, which represent the Majorelle Garden and Museum was recognized as a charity by the Decree of 4 November 2011 2.11.647 It became Foundation Majorelle Garden. Since 2010, the Majorelle Garden is owned by the Fondation Pierre Bergé - Lawrence Foundation French law recognized charity Yves Saint.
Exhibition Yves Saint Laurent and Morocco
The Yves Saint Laurent and Morocco exhibition, the Majorelle Garden on November 27, 2010 to March 18, 2011 won 47,000 visitors. She was greeted by the Villa des Arts, ONA Foundation in Casablanca from 13 April to 17 July 2011.
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Home of the Famous
Sir Frederic Mitterrand, in the presence of Mr. Pierre Bergé has affixed the plate "Home of the Famous" at the entrance of the Villa Oasis, where Yves Saint Laurent often lived and worked until his death.
This label, created in 2011 by the Ministry of Culture and Communication, is designed to "showcase outstanding homes by their history and by those who inhabited." This is the first time the label distinguishes a house outside French territory.
Opened in 2011 in the former studio of Jacques Majorelle a Berber Museum.
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