Son of the Nancy cabinetmaker Louis Majorelle, the painter Jacques Majorelle (1886-1962) was a prominent figure in Orientalism. Discovering Marrakech in 1917, he was fascinated by the light and the bright colours of the city as well as its inhabitants. He first established himself as the Villa Bou Saf Saf, then in the Cubist villa designed by the architect Paul Sinoir, which now houses the Berber museum of the Jardin Majorelle Foundation.
For nearly forty years, he tirelessly painted the different atmospheres of the souks, the scenes of daily life or the singular beauty of the models who came to pose for him. His many trips to the kasbahs of the Atlas Mountains and other cities in Morocco allow him to recreate all the richness of the landscapes, architectures and markets, or ceremonies of which he is the privileged witness.
In the 1940s, the discovery of sub-Saharan Africa led to an aesthetic and chromatic renewal that accompanied all his work right up to his last creations.
