From Ringbom to Ringbom: The art of art history of Lars-Ivar Ringbom and Sixten Ringbom: A mythmaker and a myth-breaker in bo, Finland

When Ludwig Klages visited bo (a coastal city in Finland), in 1935, his host was Lars-Ivar Ringbom (1901-1971), an art historian and docent at bo Akademi University. In 1969, Ernst Gombrich visited the same city, and this time his host was Lars-Ivar Ringbom’s son, Sixten Ringbom (1935-1992), who soon was to follow his father as a professor in art history. I use the image of these visits as a starting point for my discussion about the change in the art historical interests of Lars-Ivar Ringbom and Sixten Ringbom. I will concentrate particularly on the impact that Ludwig Klages had on Lars-Ivar Ringbom writings. The polarity and the tension of rational and irrational that structured Lars-Ivar Ringbom’s work was later echoed in the work of Sixten Ringbom. Sixten Ringbom’s thinking is in dialogical relation and partly contradictory to his father’s studies.