Yves Saint Laurent - Pierre Bergé, A Moroccan Passion

Pierre Bergé and Yves Saint Laurent first arrived in Marrakech in February 1966. They stayed at La Mamounia, which was a dilapidated luxury hotel at the time and not the lavish property it is now. The couple liked its unpretentious charm. It rained nonstop during the first few days of their visit. 

Bergé and Saint Laurent left with the deed of sale for Dar el-Hanch, their first home in Morocco. 

Pierre Bergé and Yves Saint Laurent acquired their first house in the medina. It was named Dar el-Hanch, Arabic for the “Snake’s House.” The couturier drew a large snake on the wall of their dining room. Snakes also adorned the letters and greeting cards he sent his friends. 

Yves Saint Laurent was born in Oran, Algeria, in 1936. When he rediscovered North Africa thirty years later, he rediscovered the region’s particular light and the color it revealed. Morocco became an endless source of inspiration for Saint Laurent. He would go their twice a year—in December and June—to design his collections, which were subsequently dominated by color.

During the swinging sixties, Marrakech went from being a sleepy town to one of the most festive places in the world. It did not have many bars, so people met up in the most beautiful homes—specifically at the residence of Paul and Talitha Getty, one of the first couples to move there. They invited many friends and eventually met Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé, who had established their own circle composed of the Gettys, Fernando Sanchez, Loulou de La Falaise, Andy Warhol, and Mick Jagger.

In 1974, Pierre Bergé and Yves Saint Laurent sold Dar el-Hanch to their friend Fernando Sanchez and acquired a house named Dar Es Saada, the “House of Happiness,” which was located in the Gueliz district near the Jardin Majorelle. 

They asked their architect friend Bill Willis to decorate it. Willis had also arrived in Marrakech in the 1960s, becoming the preferred decorator of the well-to-do, bohemian population with which he associated.

In 1980, Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé learned that the Jardin Majorelle, which they often visited, was threatened by a real-estate development project. In order to rescue it from demolition, they decided to acquire it along with the adjoining villa.

The garden and villa had been dreamed up by Jacques Majorelle, son of the French cabinetmaker and decorator Louis Majorelle. Having become the owner of land in Marrakech, Jacques Majorelle had an Art Deco-style studio designed by the architect Paul Sinoir built on it in 1931. Over forty years, he also cultivated a garden there made up of plants from five continents.

Saint Laurent and Bergé put Bill Willis in charge of renovating the villa, which they called the “Villa Oasis.” They also asked him to decorate the atelier, in which they created a museum of Islamic art.

The Jardin Majorelle, which was redesigned by Madison Cox in 2000, is now one of the most visited sites in Morocco, counting nearly 800,000 visitors every year. 

During their early years there, the couple visited the rest of the country, notably Tangier. In 1999, they ended up acquiring the Villa Mabrouka, the “House of Luck,” where they spent their summers far from the heat of Marrakech. 

Pierre Bergé also participated in saving the Librairie des Colonnes, Tangier’s cultural center, which was on the verge of closing in 2010. Artists and writers used to stay in this fascinating city, a former Mediterranean trading post. They included Henri Matisse, Samuel Beckett, Jean Genet, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, William Burroughs, and Jimi Hendrix.

Early on, Pierre Bergé and Yves Saint Laurent took an interest in Berber art. The Amazigh, or Berbers, are one of the oldest populations in Maghreb.

It took a long time for this culture to be recognized. In a speech on March 9, 2011, HM King Mohammed VI of Morocco spoke of “Berberity, the shared patrimony of all Moroccans.” Later that year in December, a museum devoted to Berber art replaced the museum of Islamic art in the painter’s former studio at the Jardin Majorelle. The six hundred objects on display there are all from the collection bequeathed by Bergé.  

Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé decided to create the Fondation Jardin Majorelle in 2001. It was recognized as a public utility ten years later. The foundation currently supports a number of cultural and educational organizations in addition to associations working to fight certain diseases.

In 2016, HM King Mohammed VI of Morocco awarded Bergé the Grand Cross of the Order of Ouissam Alaouite for eminent service to the Kingdom of Morocco.

In 2010, the Jardin Majorelle held the exhibition Yves Saint Laurent and Morocco in the painter’s atelier. It was a success. Pierre Bergé intended the exhibition to be Saint Laurent’s homage to Morocco and especially Marrakech, where he was deeply inspired by the residents, colors, and light.

The idea of a museum in this country that was so dear to Saint Laurent and Bergé began germinating. On October 19, 2017, the musée YVES SAINT LAURENT marrakech will open its doors near the Jardin Majorelle in a building designed by Studio KO. In addition to a room devoted to Yves Saint Laurent and conceived by Christophe Martin, it will be a cultural center composed of an exhibition space, an auditorium, and a library.