We were driven to the Avenue Yacoub Al Mansour to see the Jardin Majorelle. The French painter, Jacques Majorelle, originally designed this 12-acre garden in 1923, but the years after his death in 1962 were not kind to the site. Now Yves Saint Laurent owns the gardens, and they have been lovingly restored and replanted by him, ensuring that the original Majorelle concept has not been lost.
As we approached the gardens I was unimpressed, it looks so ordinary from the outside, but we were here, so I would check out the place. Inside was a totally different story. A large variety of cacti strategically placed in front of tall palms set the scene. Could it be like one of many other gardens that we’ve seen?
We first walk through a covered walkway draped with vines and other climbing plants and then we see the cobalt blue painted mansion, Marjorelle’s original home. This is at the centre of the garden, which is so well designed that many of the "main attractions" are hidden from view until you are virtually on top of them. The plot is only about half the original size and it is a little hard to imagine what additional compositions Majorelle had built into the garden in the early days.
One obvious theme is the use of bright colours, which blend into the luscious colours provide by nature. We walked down red paved areas, which led us to fountain gushing pools with bright blue surrounds; relaxed in seated gazebos in the company of bright blue and yellow planters; and then set off down a lane bordered by a striking bamboo fence leading us to a magnificent stone-columned feature. In this blue painted edifice we gazed at the ornate corner columns and were transfixed with a long straight stretch of water that seemed to lead to infinity. How did he do that?
We almost stumbled into a goldfish-infested lily pond–once again encased in a brilliant blue surround with the background of big bamboos and capacious cacti.
As we sat on one of the many strategically placed benches, birds twittered in the bulk of the banana trees and flittered from branch to branch, and we were able to enjoy the serenity of this space. We were visiting in the early morning–the sun was up, it wasn’t too hot, and the garden wasn’t overrun with visitors. It was the ideal time to enjoy this garden.
There’s a museum of Islamic arts within the garden housing a collection of artifacts, including Saint Laurent's personal collection of African carpets, pottery, and furniture. Worth a look if you’ve time, but we didn’t find it mind-blowingly interesting.
This garden is really the artist’s canvas–Majorelle was not a distinguished artist, but he excelled in his garden, using many imported plants to harmonise with the indigenous flowers of Morocco, incorporating the pottery of the area, and blending in large concrete gazebos alongside terracotta planters and gushing fountains.