Rumours about the exotic private life of Sting and Trudie Styler have included swingers' parties, strip clubs and tantric sex sessions lasting several hours.

Now some more tangible evidence of their colourful tastes has emerged.

The 56-year-old rock star and his wife have flung wide the doors of their ￡12million Manhattan apartment for an "at home" newspaper feature - with eyebrow-raising results.

Artistic licence: Trudie Styler says the artwork in the couple's bedroom makes her feel 'hot'

The centrepiece of the 18-room apartment overlooking Central Park is an extraordinary scarlet bedroom embroidered in gold and dominated by two explicit Helmut Newton prints.

In one, an unidentified woman lays virtually naked, with her legs spread in the back of a vintage Mercedes as a man leans over from the front seat to unzip one of her spike-heeled boots.

The other image, above the bed head, shows the lower half of another female wearing just stockings, suspenders and high heels.

Miss Styler, 53, who once told a U.S. DJ that the couple enjoyed swingers' parties, before apparently retracting the claim, said of the room: "I find it hot."