Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd began his art studies under Fernand Léger in Paris in 1951 and debuted with his first exhibition there in 1952. In 1952, he returned to Sweden and continued his studies at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm until 1955. He was appointed professor of painting at the school in 1965 and held the position until 1969, when he moved to Bussigny in Switzerland, where he lived and worked for an extended period.

Reuterswärd's most prominent and well-known artwork is the sculpture Non-Violence. The artwork depicts a revolver with a knotted barrel and was created in response to the murder of John Lennon in 1980. Reuterswärd had known John Lennon and Yoko Ono during his time in Switzerland, and Yoko asked him to create an artistic tribute to John and his vision of peace. Originally, the sculpture was placed as a memorial in Central Park, but in 1988 it was donated to the UN by the government of Luxembourg and installed in front of the UN building in New York. In Sweden, Non-Violence is also present as a public sculpture in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, Täby, Borås, and Halmstad, in addition to Landskrona.

Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd's works can be found in the collections of several internationally recognized museums, from the Moderna Museet in Stockholm to MOMA in New York and Centre Pompidou in Paris.