Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech Opens Major Odette du Puigaudeau Exhibition Today

A major new exhibition opens today at the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech, tracing the life and work of Odette du Puigaudeau, the French explorer, writer and ethnologist who made Morocco her permanent home and spent decades documenting nomadic cultures of the Sahara.

Sur les traces d’Odette du Puigaudeau runs from October 3, 2026 to March 7, 2027 and brings together more than 200 works and archival documents, including photographs, drawings, manuscripts, objects, sound archives and documentary film extracts.

More than 200 works and documents

The exhibition draws from the collections of the Musée Pierre Bergé des arts berbères, the Fondation Jardin Majorelle and private collections. It includes original drawings, watercolours and illustrated plates connected to du Puigaudeau and her longtime collaborator Marion Sénones.

The museum has structured the exhibition around three phases of her life: her early years between Saint-Nazaire and Paris, the long period of travel and research across desert regions from the 1930s to 1961, and her final decades in Rabat.

From Paris to the Sahara

Before becoming known for her fieldwork, du Puigaudeau worked as a natural-history illustrator and in fashion and costume design. She later moved into journalism and, together with Sénones, began the expeditions that would define her career.

Their journeys took them through Mauritania, the southern regions of Morocco and other parts of the Sahara, where they documented everyday objects, clothing, jewellery, architecture, landscapes, oral traditions and social life.

Morocco became her final home

The South of Morocco occupies an important place in her work. During the late 1930s she travelled through areas including Tiznit, the Tamanart valley and Foum El Hassan, where she recorded rock engravings and other cultural material.

In 1961, du Puigaudeau and Sénones settled permanently in Rabat. Du Puigaudeau continued her research there and later directed the prehistory office of the archaeological museum in Rabat during the 1970s.

An immersive exhibition

The Marrakech exhibition goes beyond books and photographs. Visitors can encounter radio archives, documentary extracts and material connected to the desert communities du Puigaudeau studied.

The exhibition also places her work alongside the broader history of twentieth-century exploration, ethnography and visual documentation of Morocco and the Sahara.

Practical information

Exhibition: Sur les traces d’Odette du Puigaudeau. Dates: October 3, 2026 to March 7, 2027. Venue: Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech, Rue Yves Saint Laurent.

The museum’s official visitor information currently lists opening every day except Wednesday, from 10:00 to 18:00, with last admission at 17:30. The museum’s homepage also currently displays a later closing time of 18:30 with last access at 18:00, so visitors should check the official museum site when planning a late-afternoon visit.

The museum states that tickets should be purchased through the official Jardin Majorelle ticketing site.

Venue photograph: Pivari, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.