Zola Dam is a dam in Le Tholonet near Aix-en-Provence, France.[1]
The dam was designed by Italian-born engineer François Zola, the father of novelist Émile Zola.[1] [2] Its construction was initially rejected by Gaston Alexandre Auguste, Marquis de Galliffet, the landowner, in 1838.[1]
Zola founded the Société du Canal Zola in 1846 and began construction.[2] He died, however, in 1847, and the company was acquired by author and politician Jules Migeon in 1853.[2] Construction of the dam was completed on September 10, 1854, and it was dedicated on December 16, 1854.[2]
The dam was painted by Paul Cézanne in the 1880s.[3] The painting belonged to Paul Gauguin in 1885. It was purchased by Gwendoline Davies in 1918, who donated it to the National Museum Wales in 1952.[3]