Among the most distinctive works of Russian artist Zinaida Serebriakova are the paintings she created in Morocco. She made two trips to the North African country—the first in 1928-1929 and the second in 1932. Her fascination didn't stop at the vibrant city of Marrakesh but included other cities like Fes, Sefrou, and Moulay Idriss Zerhoun.
Serebriakova’s first trip came after she took part in a group exhibition in Belgium, where King Leopold III spent considerable time admiring her paintings, many of which were nudes. This caught the attention of a patron, Baron Breuer, who commissioned her to paint portraits of his family. Impressed by her talent, he made a second proposal: a working trip to Morocco, where he owned property in Marrakesh. He offered to cover her travel and accommodation expenses on the condition that he would retain her best works.
Captivating colours
Upon arriving in Marrakesh, Serebriakova was immediately captivated by the colours, scents, and light, the richness of the landscape and the striking architecture of castles and kasbahs. To her, being in Morocco felt like she stepped into the famed One Thousand and One Nights story.
In a letter to her daughter, Serebriakova wrote: "Life here in Paris is nothing but vanity, nothing but stress and despair... But how can an artist be creative without 'joyful stimulation?' I spent one month in Morocco in 1928, then another month and a half in 1932. The spontaneous beauty, so vibrant, completely captivated me."
Inspired by this "joyful stimulation," Serebriakova produced 60 paintings during her first six-week trip. On her return to Paris, she exhibited these personal visions of Marrakesh at the Bernheim-Jeune gallery. Her work fascinated critics and art lovers alike, including Alexandre Benois, who praised the precision, freshness, and beauty of her visual expression, as well as the simplicity and magical quality of her use of light.
Her second trip, sponsored by Belgian banker Henry Leboeuf, took her outside Marrakesh in February. By March, she returned to the big city, venturing into nearby villages like Tamslouht in the Taroudant province. Although this trip lasted only a month and a half, Serebriakova created more than 200 paintings.
Many of these works were later exhibited in a solo show at the Charpentier Gallery in December 1932. The exhibition was received with great fanfare. Critics lauded her remarkable ability to depict nature and capture the essence of the East so vividly that her connection with the people seemed deeply personal, as though it had always existed. Writing for Le Figaro, journalist Camille Mauclair noted: "Never before has modern Morocco been seen or celebrated better than this."
Diverse subjects
Serebriakova’s subjects were diverse, capturing intimate portraits of the daily lives of men, women, and children. Her paintings skilfully portrayed the individuality of ceremonial and festive clothing, reflecting both the shifting and constant rhythms of life. Whether set in closed interiors or open-air spaces, intimate retreats or crowded gatherings, her work vividly illustrated a broad spectrum of human experience.
She also captured architectural details with her eye for art— from grand gates to small doorways and rooftop scenes where laundry dried under the sun or people basked in solitude or shared moments. Serebriakova depicted the vibrancy of public spaces, most notably the bustling Jemaa el-Fnaa Square, with its lively festivities and the fragrant markets, bursting with colour and the scent of spices.
The winding alleyways of these cities, filled with hidden stories, further enriched her repertoire. Beyond urban scenes, she ventured into unfamiliar landscapes, such as the snow-capped Atlas Mountains in the backdrop of the Red City and the quiet, forgotten villages.
Her artistic process was shaped by the constraints of painting outdoors in the early 20th century. And traditional, conservative values pushed her to work swiftly. This urgency allowed her to capture transitory moments in great detail, where imperfection paradoxically led to a sense of completeness in her work.
Colourful spectrum
In Fes, she captured vanishing blues, blending with the luminous light. In Marrakesh, she caught the reds bleeding into the city’s identity, merging with shadows as they deepened.
In her depictions of Sefrou, rooftops became islands inhabited by women standing as guardians of the town’s ruins. Their enigmatic postures hinted at untold stories communicated not through words but through gestures. Their intertwined fates revealed the city’s history as its people disappeared into a siesta-induced silence.
In her painting Two Women at the Door, the scene is viewed from the inside, looking out. In The Water Carrier, a Black man holding a goatskin water container gazes with a blend of sorrow and astonishment. The viewer can almost hear the ringing of his bell. He looks like a reminder of an urgent reality. The darkness of the African figures in her Marrakesh works is softened by complementary shades of blue or faint red, with hints of pink.
Similarly, the yellow hue used to depict a woman pounding henna in a mortar evokes a sense destiny, as though wishing for a dream to materialise immediately. Nearby, green evokes the rhythms of local music.
At its most vivid, the deep, rich blue transitions into a striking green in the portraits of radiant girls and young men, embodying a balance of playfulness and resilience.
This spectrum of colours reaches its pinnacle in The Moroccan Woman in the Pink Shalwar, where blue, yellow, pink, and green harmonise in a joyful expression of wise beauty and modest femininity. The woman, her face turned to the side, is absorbed by something that captures her attention, creating an acute sense of mystery.
Serebriakova first gained fame in her youth with a self-portrait called At the Dressing Table. While living in Paris, she became renowned for exploring the aesthetics of female nudity. Her first trip to Morocco carried an implicit intention: to create nude portraits of Moroccan women. However, the reality she encountered in Africa inspired her in another direction.
Shifted focus
She shifted her focus to the country’s treasures, striving to capture its unique beauty. Though she completed only a few nude portraits, her attention was drawn to the daily rhythms, the rituals of a distinct way of life, and the enchanting landscapes of Morocco. Her prolific output—over 300 paintings created during her two visits, which spanned just three months—reflects her sense of wonder and joy as if Morocco had granted her a second artistic birth.
Whether influenced by Orientalist fantasies or folkloric inspirations, the body of work she produced during this period —which critics regard as a turning point in her career—stands as both a historical and aesthetic record, as well as an anthropological and social document of early 20th-century Morocco.
According to her daughter Tatyana, the two brief but inspirational trips to Morocco were the brightest and happiest experiences of Serebriakova’s life abroad.
