Getgubben (Man and the Goat) — Drottninggatan, Gävle

Origins and the artist’s idea

Getgubben was created by Allan Runefelt, a Swedish sculptor and draftsman active in the mid‑20th century; Runefelt explored everyday figures and animals and often worked in accessible public scales. The piece pairs a small, long‑bearded man with a compact horned goat, both cast in bronze and deliberately sized to sit close to eye level. Runefelt reportedly found inspiration in studies of both people and goats during travels, noticing a visual kinship that he translated into a single, quietly witty motif.

What you see at street level

The composition places the man slightly behind or beside the goat depending on viewing angle, so the pair reads as a companionable unit rather than separate sculptures. The man stands with a calm, forward gaze; the goat’s curved horns and textured coat are modelled with economical, expressive strokes. At roughly human‑lip and boot height the sculpture invites close inspection: bronze patina, abrupt textural contrasts and the small scale make it approachable — you can circle it, examine the modelling of the beard and the goat’s horns, and appreciate the way light falls on the rounded surfaces.

Scale, material and setting

Executed in bronze, Getgubben is compact—intended for an urban pavement or small plaza rather than a park mound. The low plinth keeps the figures connected to pedestrian scale and to the flow of Drottninggatan, Gävle’s traditional shopping street. Because of that placement the work reads as part of everyday city life: commuters, shoppers and window shoppers pass within arm’s reach, and the sculpture’s modest footprint allows it to punctuate the streetscape without dominating it.

Meaning and local feeling

The juxtaposition of an elderly, bearded man and a goat suggests themes rather than a single literal story: kinship across species, the smallness and resilience of everyday figures, and a gentle, slightly comic humanism. The piece can be read as a tribute to ordinary people—rooted, quietly durable—where the goat functions both as companion and as a reflection of the man’s own features. Its approachable scale and warmth give it an urban intimacy: it feels like a fragment of a larger, untold narrative in the city.

Context in Gävle’s public art

Getgubben is one of several editions of Runefelt’s motif placed around Sweden and joins Gävle’s broader collection of civic sculptures that line the principal streets and squares. In this role the work contributes to a dispersed, pedestrian‑scaled gallery: small sculptures and statuary that convert everyday thoroughfares into moments of visual surprise. Its long presence on Drottninggatan means it has become a familiar feature of the local fabric and a touchstone within the sequence of streetscape sculptures.

Care and visitor experience

Because it sits at pavement level and is cast in bronze, Getgubben weathers naturally and acquires a lived patina over time; close inspection reveals fine tool marks and surface variations typical of bronze casting and patination. The sculpture rewards slow looking—notice the contrast between the rough modelling of the beard and the smoother planes of the goat’s body, and how shadows gather between the figures. As a small, street‑scale work it is best appreciated in a few quiet minutes of observation when the city’s tempo slows and details become visible.