Needle, Thread and Knot

Needle, Thread and Knot (Italian: Ago, Filo e Nodo) is a public artwork in two parts by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen in Piazzale Cadorna, Milan, Italy.

Commissioned by the City of Milan as part of the renovations of the Milan Cadorna railway station, and unveiled in February 2000, the sculpture is a fountain made of stainless steel and reinforced plastic, painted with polyester gelcoat and polyurethane enamel.

According to the artists the needle pulling thread through fabric is a metaphor for a train going through a tunnel.

The thread wrapped around a needle also "paraphrased" the city emblem of a snake coiled around a sword.

[2] The three thread colours (red, green, yellow) selected by the artists are meant to reflect the three lines of the Milan Metro at the time.