Jacques Majorelle

Do you have a piece by Jacques Majorelle in your possession and would like to know its value? Our Experts will carry out a free appraisal of your piece, provide you with an estimate of the market price, and then help you to sell at the best possible price.

Status, price and estimate by Jacques Majorelle

Price of a painting: 1 600 – 295,000 €.

Price of a drawing: 3 700 – 310,000 €.

Estimation of a print: 210 – 4 900 €.

Price of a photograph: 130 – 6,500 €.

If you would like to have a work by Jacques Majorelle appraised, our experts will take care of everything.

Jacques Majorelle’s artistic training

Jacques Majorelle, son of the famous cabinetmaker Louis Majorelle, was an orientalist painter born on March 7, 1886 in Nancy. He died on October 14, 1962 in Paris.

From a very young age, he was immersed in the Art Nouveau milieu of the École de Nancy, which his father helped to found with Émile Gallé. In 1901, he enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts de Nancy in the “Architecture and Decoration” department. However, he wished to become a painter, so he moved to Paris where he enrolled at the Académie Julian and took classes with painters Schommer and Royer.

Jacques Majorelle and Morocco

After travelling in Spain and Italy, he exhibited at the Société des Artistes Français in 1908. Majorelle was forced to live in warm climates due to a lung disease, so he went to Egypt in 1910 and stayed there for four years. Demobilised during WWI due to his fragile health, he left for Morocco to settle in Marrakech in 1917.

In 1918, he exhibited in Casablanca’s Excelsior Hotel where his first vision of the country can be seen. He presented large canvases showing villages and their kasbahs, citadels of stylized and sober Berber architecture.

Between 1919 and 1930, Jacques Majorelle travelled through Morocco eight times. He depicted scenes of the villages and souks he saw in his canvases.

The “Majorelle Blue” by Jacques Majorelle

In 1923, Jacques Majorelle bought a plot of land of almost 1.6 hectares, dotted with poplar trees. He had a Moorish-style house built there and then added workshops as he extended his estate (which grew to 4 hectares).

He decorated his home by having pieces of craftsmanship, leatherwork or cabinetwork made. In 1927, he painted his villa in a blue colour, which he named “Blue Majorelle”. It is an intense blue with a slightly purplish hue and tends to inspire softness, relaxation and rest.

In 1931, Paul Sinoir built a cubist villa near Majorelle’s first house upon his request. He set up his workshop there, where he worked on large decorative panels.

Majorelle was passionate about botany and surrounded his house with a teeming garden that he constantly enriched with plants from all over the world. He spoke of this garden as “a cathedral of shapes and colours”. In 1947, the garden was opened to the public for a fee.

Recognising Jacques Majorelle’s signature

Like many artists, Majorelle did not sign all of his works. However, you will find below an example of the signatures to give you an idea. Variations of these signatures do exist, do not hesitate to contact one of our experts to formally authenticate a signature.

Appraising and selling a piece by Jacques Majorelle

If you own a piece by Jacques Majorelle or any other object, ask for a free estimate via our online form.

You will then be contacted by a member of our team of experts and auctioneers to give you an independent view of the market price of your piece. In the context of a possible sale, our specialists will also advise you on the different options available to sell your work at the best price.