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How happy can one be? Very happy, anyone who sees the sculpture 'Joy' will agree wholeheartedly. The stylised female figure seems to be flying towards heaven on invisible wings. The arms reaching upwards emphasise the ultimate moment of exuberant bliss.

Anyone comparing this sculpture from 1962 with another female figure by Rob Pleysier, which he made more than twenty years later and which has also been given a place in The Hague's public space ('Girl with a flute'), may be surprised to find that the sculptor has developed in a figurative direction. The abstraction went further in 1962 than in 1983, when the artist clung more strongly to the representation of reality. This is striking, because many artists develop in precisely the opposite direction: from figuration to abstraction.

There is even more dynamism in the depiction of the joyful woman than in the image of the girl playing the flute. Besides differences, there are also clear similarities in both sculptures. The most striking is the sculptor's penchant for harmony and beauty. Both bronze statues of women or girls are smoothly and skilfully modelled. They have been captured at a moment of full action. They radiate a lust for life and underline Pleysier's apparent pleasure in uncomplicated beauty, unconditional surrender and sincere emotional experience. He has enriched the city of his birth, The Hague, with several sculptures in which he testifies to his affinity with the figurative tradition and his need to cherish valuable moments and immortalise them in sculpture.