As I put together my ‘Spanish Blue – Can you make this into a garden’ piece,  I came across, again and again,  the Jardin du Majorelle in Marrakesh.   My wanderlust has been calling to me from Morocco (and India too) for sometime, so I happily obliged further exploration into the blue garden.

Have you been to this place?

image by AurelioZen

The  original owner was Jaques Majorelle a French painter  whose masterpiece turned out to be this garden.  This particular color of blue, used profusely, is named for him;  Majorelle Blue.

image by talkingdoguk

After Majorelle’s death, the property fell into disrepair but was bought and restored by Yves St Laurent and Pierre Bergé in 1980.  Bergé wrote a book about the place that is part of the series ‘Small Books about Great Gardens’ and is called Majorelle: A Moroccan Oasis (Small Books of Great Gardens).

image by squirmelia

The light fixtures are simply stunning.

1. P7041816, 2. Lamp

I think it is easy to understand why this garden was created by a painter and subsequently purchased by another designer. The play of light and the inspiration on offer is a dream (just check out all the images on Flickr to see what photographers have done!).
The garden also houses Yves St Laurent’s collection of Islamic Art, is full of exotic and rare plants (Majorelle was a plant collector) and at least 11 North African bird species not found anywhere else.

1. The Majorelle Gardens in Marrakech, 2. jardin majorelle, marrakesh, 3. Majorelle Gardens, Majorelle Blue, 4. Marruecos – Marrakech – Jardin Majorelle – Contraste