Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The house of Émile Zola, located in Médan in the Yvelines, was purchased by the writer in 1878 thanks to the income of his novel L'Assommoir. He added two wings (north in 1878 with kitchen and work room, south in 1885 with billiard room) and enlarged the estate with a Norwegian kiosk from the Universal Exhibition of 1878. Zola lived there eight months a year, writing eight novels including Germinal and Nana, while leading a double family life between Médan and Paris.

After Zola's death in 1902, his widow Alexandrine donated the property to the Public Assistance in 1905 to become a convalescence facility. Ranked a historical monument in 1983, the house will house an ambulance school in the 1980s before becoming a museum in 1984. Since 2021, it has also hosted the Dreyfus Museum, the first permanent museum dedicated to the Affair, inaugurated by Emmanuel Macron.

The estate was also the meeting place of the group of Médan, a literary circle including Guy de Maupassant, Joris-Karl Huysmans and Henry Céard. Their collection Les Soirées de Médan (1880), born of dinners organized by Zola, marked the history of naturalism. An annual pilgrimage is organized every first Sunday of October since 1903 by the Literary Society of Emile Zola's friends.

The recent restoration (2011–2021) has enabled the interiors of the period to be reconstructed: stained glass lounge, dining room, Delft tile kitchen, office and Zola bedroom. The museum exhibits personal objects of the writer, his photographs, and documents related to his involvement in the Dreyfus Affair. An adjacent pavilion, the Dreyfus Museum, explores the themes of the Republic, democracy and the fight against anti-Semitism through archives and interactive media.

The architecture of the estate, including the main house, the communes, the greenhouse and the Charpentier pavilion, reflects the successive enlargements ordered by Zola. The Norwegian kiosk and the Universal Exhibition chalet demonstrate its taste for eclectic elements. The ensemble, protected since 1983, is now managed by the association Maison Zola-Museum Dreyfus, which organizes temporary exhibitions, debates and educational activities.

Future

The Emile Zola Museum was inaugurated in the house of Médan in 1984.

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