Towards the end of his life René Bolliger chose red chalk, often called ‘sanguine’ after its association with the colour of blood, as the preferred medium for his homoerotic drawings. Here we bring together a selection of sanguines made between 1960 and 1965.

In 1965 Bolliger produced his last major portfolio, a 24-page sanguine-illustrated version of Paul Verlaine’s Hombres, a collection of homoerotic poems, many of them quite explicit, written between 1887 and 1891 and published posthumously in 1903, exploring themes of male intimacy and desire. The poems clearly spoke directly to Bolliger, who wrote them all out and placed his illustrations around and among Verlaine’s text.

If you would like to see the whole of this unique work you will have to buy the Nicole Canet book, details of which are on the René Bolliger biography page.