The artwork is described as follows: steel lines curve over the terrain and submitted to many types of tension. Each of the three bands of laminated metal is torn almost its entire length so that its lower part is anchored and rests on the ground on a concrete checkerboard while its upper part describes an arc above. The curved bands diagonally crossing the checkerboard form a dome resembling the swell of a wave. Twisted, folded, and bent, these steel lines double the lines of the horizon and the landscape. Could this be a metaphor for Ulysses’s journey and his desire to conquer a distant land? The structure of this work and these points of contact with the ground are in close relation with the sites natural environment and topography.

Les voûtes d’Ulysse was first on display at the first Salon international de la sculpture extérieure, an event organized by the Centre des arts contemporains du Québec à Montréal in 1992 for the 350th anniversary of the foundation of Montréal. With the theme “Aux quatre vents” (To the Four Winds), this exhibition of monumental and environmental sculptures brought together 12 artworks, created specially for the occasion, on the promenade of the Old Port of Montréal. At the end of the event, Nadeau’s artwork was installed at its permanent site, in Lachine.