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Genuine reconstruction art. That is what the six reliefs attached to the side wall of the flat on the corner of Leggelostraat and Melis Stokelaan are. Typical of The Hague South West too. Because in those post-war years, when the housing shortage was high, a lot was built here. But not only houses were built. The surrounding area was also taken into account. Certainly in the extension districts in The Hague South-West. There, the percentage regulation that was introduced in 1951 was applied more than adequately. Two instead of 1.5% of the building sum for new buildings was available for art. No fewer than fifty artists created art in this district between 1945 and 1975. Art as decoration, to embellish the living environment.

One of these artists was Gerard van Remmen. This sculptor specialised in concrete reliefs in the 1950s. There were several reasons why Van Remmen chose concrete. First of all, it was cheaper than natural stone. But this relatively new material also had artistic advantages. You could make larger works of art with it and cast it in any desired form using a mould. The suspension could also be cast in the concrete. This is how Van Remmen's reliefs were attached to the inner wall. The outer wall was then bricked up around them. Art and architecture are thus intertwined here.

Entirely in his own style, Van Remmen made six recognisable animal figures for this façade. The heaviest one hangs at the bottom: the bear. Moving upwards, one encounters a woodpecker, a swallow with young, a turtle, a snail and a stork. By sanding the skin of the concrete very smoothly at one point (polishing/sweetening) and then working it with a bush hammer so that an even but rough surface is created, the sculptor increases the contrast and the depiction is more visible.