Jacques Majorelle

Acquired in Tenerife, in the 1960s;

By descent to the present owner.

Son of the cabinetmaker and decorative artist Louis Majorelle, Jacques Majorelle studied initially at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Nancy and then at the Académie Julian in Paris, before turning to Orientalism during his first trip to Morocco in 1917. Entranced by the beauty of the landscapes, Majorelle settled there permanently.

Fascinated by the variety and brightness of the colours, Majorelle sought to evoke the glittering Moroccan light by adding gold powder to his pigments: in the present work, the artist uses it to emphasize the modelling of the forms and the play of light on the woman’s skin.

The use of black paper also allowed him to reinforce the effects of contrast between the model’s dark skin and the touches of light falling on her body and on the thick background foliage. The palm leaves and the graphic style of the vegetation surrounding the model are a recurrent motif in his work; very recently, a similar drawing with the title Among the banana trees, Marrakesh (Sotheby’s sale, Paris,16 April 2026, lot 32, sold for 166,400 EUR).