His sculpture The Knotted Gun was Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd’s response to the murder of John Lennon outside his apartment in New York by Mark Chapman on December 8, 1980. Sometimes known as Non-Violence, it depicts a Colt Magnum revolver tied in a knot and has been interpreted as a political piece in the manner of Pablo Picasso’s Guernica.
Reuterswärd had met Lennon and Yoko Ono in Switzerland in 1969 and had already discussed creating a work for them that depicted the concept of peace. After Lennon’s death, Ono asked the somewhat whimsical Reuterswärd to continue. He later recalled: “I was filled with bitterness and anger and immediately began to create a symbol for John Lennon and everyone else who has been a victim