Gold of the Nile: inside Mark Nicoll’s AI art exhibition.

Gold of the Nile is a free online exhibition of six AI-created portraits by Mark Nicoll. It brings Cleopatra and figures from Egyptian mythology into TAG’s Room 00, where you can explore in 3D or open each image in 2D.

Gold gets your attention. Stay a moment and the faces begin to hold it. The collection combines dense ornament and deep colour with the suggestion of thickly worked paint. Mark developed the images using OpenAI image generation, with Gustav Klimt as the named inspiration and a palette-knife impasto effect.

Those words belong together on the label: the influence is named, and the apparent paint is an effect within a digital image. These are not photographs of physical oil paintings or works by Klimt. They are imagined portraits, rather than historical records of what these figures looked like.

Start with the face

In Cleopatra — palette-knife study, gold spirals and mosaic-like blocks crowd around a face turned towards the viewer. Blue and turquoise break through the gilded field. Look at the broad collar, then follow the angular marks back towards the cheek.

The portrait can feel different when you change your distance. From across the room, the face and silhouette give it structure. In the 2D view, smaller interruptions in the ornament become easier to notice. Neither way of looking needs to be the correct one.

A different Cleopatra

Cleopatra — Lapis profile turns away from the direct encounter. The left-facing profile sits against a deep blue field; ivory clothing, a broad collar and a gold cobra provide a different rhythm. The two portraits share a visual language without asking you to read them in quite the same way.

Compare the silhouette with Anubis

In Anubis — The gold guardian, two tall ears and a long muzzle form a dark shape against the gold. The pointed outline gives you something to recognise before you look closely at the collar or surrounding spirals.

Try moving between that image and the Lapis profile. In one, follow the outline of the ears and muzzle; in the other, follow the lifted chin and dark hair. The shared gold and blue hold the collection together, while each figure changes the shape of the picture.

The room is part of the visit

Room 00 surrounds the works with pale columns, gold trim, chandeliers and a worn concrete floor. The setting is deliberately theatrical. A close 2D view gives you another way to spend time with the same images, without navigating the room.

You can start with any of the six works. Open an individual artwork to see its image, description, creator, AI tool, named inspiration and effect. Viewing is free. If an image stays with you, the download licence explains how Mark’s high-resolution downloads can be printed and displayed at home or in an office.

If looking makes you want to build a collection of your own, creator exhibitions are coming soon. The creator guide explains the planned route from an idea to an exhibit, including the review needed before publication.