Curated Art
& Gallery Tours
Marrakech hides its art the way it hides everything else, behind plain walls. We know which doors to knock on.
Art in
plain sight
Spend one morning in the medina and you pass more art than many cities keep in their museums. Zellij fountains, carved cedar lintels, a mural waiting at the end of a dead end alley.
Marrakech has always treated decoration as a duty rather than a luxury, and it shows in every doorway. The last decade added a whole new layer on top of that inheritance.
The Musée Yves Saint Laurent opened in 2017, MACAAL brought contemporary African collections to Al Maaden, and the 1-54 fair chose the city for its first edition on African soil. Galleries followed, then foundations, then artist residencies out in the palm groves.
Our tours draw one path through all of it: the rooms worth your time, in an order that makes sense on foot. Shops that call themselves galleries stay off the list.
Where we take you
Five kinds of spaces, each one visited by our team before it went on the route.
Al Maaden and Majorelle
Contemporary museums
The Musée Yves Saint Laurent and MACAAL anchor the day. Both reward slow looking, so we take them early, before the coaches arrive.
Gueliz and the medina
Independent galleries
Serious rooms run by owners who talk about the work itself, not only the price.
Kasbah and Mellah
Palaces and historic sites
Bahia’s painted ceilings, the vast ruined courtyard of El Badi, the Saadian Tombs. Craft at full scale.
Across the city
Street art
Murals left by the 2016 biennale, some three stories tall, others easy to walk past twice.
Rahba Kedima
Documentary and photo art
Vintage prints at the Maison de la Photographie, then contemporary lens work in the galleries.
Gardens that grow art
On the road to the Ourika valley, the Austrian artist André Heller planted ANIMA, a garden where sculptures rise between cactus, bamboo and bougainvillea. It is strange in the best way, and children love it as much as collectors do.
Closer to town, the Montresso Foundation’s Jardin Rouge hosts painters and muralists in residence, with studios you can sometimes visit by appointment. We add either stop when the day allows.
From medina to global stage
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2016
MACAAL and the Biennale
The Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden opens its doors, and the sixth Marrakech Biennale spills out of the venues and onto the streets, leaving murals the city decided to keep.
-
2017
The Musée Yves Saint Laurent
A purpose built museum rises beside the Jardin Majorelle, designed by Studio KO in local brick, and quickly becomes one of the most visited addresses in the city.
-
2018
1-54 comes to Africa
The 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair holds its first edition on African soil here, and the international art calendar starts printing the city’s name every February.
“Visitors arrive expecting souks and mint tea. Many leave talking about a museum instead.”
We visit every space ourselves before it earns a place on the route.
Galleries pay us no commission, and there is no carpet shop waiting at the end of the walk. When a space stops being worth the visit, it comes off the route, which is why the tour changes from one season to the next.
See the city the way its artists do
Tell us what pulls you: painting, photography, architecture, or all of it at once. We shape the day around it, with a guide who knows the people behind the doors.
Curated Art & Gallery Tours
Half day or full day, on foot in the medina and by car beyond it.