Yves Saint Laurent Museum Marrakech Presents an Exhibition on Odette du Puigaudeau
From Breton fishing boats to Saharan caravans, Odette du Puigaudeau built a life around curiosity and movement. Now, the musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech brings her story into focus with “Sur les traces d’Odette du Puigaudeau.” Running from October 3, 2026, to March 7, 2027, the exhibition gathers more than 200 works, objects and documents. Together, they reveal an explorer whose close observations preserved a remarkable record of nomadic cultures.
Odette du Puigaudeau, From Fashion to Exploration
Born in Saint-Nazaire in 1894, du Puigaudeau was the daughter of painter Ferdinand du Puigaudeau. In Paris, she worked as a scientific illustrator, designed stage costumes and became a stylist at Jeanne Lanvin. Yet her ambitions soon took her beyond the studio. In 1928, she obtained her professional navigation papers and began sailing aboard Breton tuna boats, writing her first reports along the way.
Two Women on the Road
In 1931, she met journalist and painter Marion Sénones, who would become her lifelong travelling companion. Two years later, they sailed from Douarnenez towards Mauritania aboard the lobster boat Belle-Hirondelle. Without an official mission, they financed the journey themselves. That departure began more than 25 years of exploration across Mauritania, southern Morocco and routes leading to Timbuktu.
Reading the Desert Through Everyday Life
Rather than recording landscapes alone, du Puigaudeau studied the details that shaped daily life. Her drawings, photographs and notebooks documented silver jewellery, saddles, storage chests, clay dolls and women’s hairstyles. Moreover, she spent five years in total living among nomadic communities. A black and brown wool tent, reconstructed at the heart of the exhibition, gives visitors a tangible connection to this domestic world.
Morocco as a Lasting Home
Southern Morocco held a particular place in her work, from Tiznit to the Tamanart Valley and Foum el Hassan. There, she documented rock engravings with the same attention she brought to desert journeys. In 1961, du Puigaudeau and Sénones settled permanently in Rabat. Beyond her travels, she contributed to Moroccan radio and directed the prehistory office at Rabat’s Museum of Antiquities between 1970 and 1977.
An Archive Comes into View
The exhibition follows three chapters, tracing her early years, desert expeditions and final decades in Rabat. Co-curators Hayate Machache and Monique Vérité bring together material from the musée Pierre Bergé des arts berbères, the Fondation Jardin Majorelle and private collections. Meanwhile, Jasmin Oezcebi’s scenography connects original drawings and watercolours with radio recordings and documentary excerpts. Works by both travellers restore Marion Sénones to this shared history.
A Place in Cultural Memory
As the first exhibition devoted to du Puigaudeau in Morocco, this presentation returns her work to the country she chose as home. Above all, it invites visitors to consider the patient attention behind her archive. Through objects, images and words, a little-known life opens onto the histories and cultures of the Sahara.
Planning Your Visit
“Sur les traces d’Odette du Puigaudeau” runs in the temporary gallery at the musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech, on rue Yves Saint Laurent. The museum opens daily except Wednesdays, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with last admission at 5:30 p.m.
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