Discover some of the key pieces in the Legation’s collection:
The Museum owns a large collection of the paintings, watercolors, and etchings of Scottish-American artist James McBey. His painting of a young Zohra is a visitor favorite; some refer to her as the Moroccan Mona Lisa.
This is one of the many maps of Morocco and the Mediterranean collected by Malcolm Forbes and other expatriates who called Morocco home.
This image of the Sultan exiting ceremoniously from his palace is a popular one among both Moroccan and expatriate artists. This version was painted by Glaoui, the son of a Pasha, whose representations of Moroccan fantasia made him one of the best known Moroccan contemporary painters.
A pioneer, R’bati was the first Moroccan artist to depict and exhibit human figures. His work was filled with layered patterns and rich imagery of Moroccan life, both ceremonial and mundane.
Capturing Tangier when it was British, gifted to Charles II when he married Portuguese princess Catherine of Braganza.
Colaço, the great granddaughter of former U.S. Consul to Tangier Felix Mathews, had deep roots in Tangier. In this gorgeous textile work, she immortalized the women of the Rif Mountains whose striped woven skirts have long brought color to the markets of Tangier.
McBey’s first trip to Morocco was in 1912 to Tangier and Tetouan. From his sketches, he created a series of etchings that reflected what would become a lifelong fascination with the country. He is buried in Tangier with the epitaph “He loved Morocco” written in Arabic on his tomb.
Financier Malcolm Forbes owned a home perched on the cliffs overlooking the Bay of Tangier in which he kept his extensive collection of dioramas. This is one of two dioramas gifted by his heirs to the Legation that focus on significant battles in Moroccan history.
Mrabet was a talented artist and writer who was part of the circle of creatives that included Paul Bowles and other Beat Generation luminaries in Tangier in the 1960s.
Moroccan painter and public school teacher Abdellah Khairouni has long been fascinated by the expatriates who were drawn to and inspired by Morocco. The Legation commissioned this portrait of Randy Weston, the American pianist whose “African Rhythms” jazz club in Tangier made pioneering contributions to jazz in the 1970s.