Milan Art InstituteReviews of milanartinstitute.com

I originally left a negative review of Milan Art Institute and Milan Art Gallery because of serious concerns about the transparency of their competitions, potential conflicts of interest, and their practice of promoting paid educational programs to rejected artists. After receiving their response, my concerns have become significantly worse. **On October 1, 2026, I received an official rejection email stating:** "Dimitra, Elli, and Jock looked at every painting you sent." The email informed me that none of my artwork had been selected for their Moonlight Mirage exhibition. It included a generic rejection message attributed to the gallery director, followed by an extensive list of artistic shortcomings I was encouraged to consider. I subsequently requested a refund, explaining my concerns about the competition's judging process and its relationship to Milan's commercial art education business. **On October 9, their Artist Support Team responded with several lengthy paragraphs defending their integrity, fairness, and educational philosophy.** But the final paragraph contained this astonishing admission: "I've went ahead and made an exception to our policy and issued the refund for you, since we didn't actually evaluate your work." **Excuse me?** You specifically told me three named judges had reviewed every painting I submitted. You rejected my artwork. You provided supposed guidance on what I should improve. And now you're telling me my work wasn't actually evaluated? **What exactly did I pay for?** This isn't about being upset that my paintings weren't selected. I fully understand that art competitions are subjective and that rejection is part of being an artist. What I cannot accept is paying for a juried competition, receiving a rejection explicitly claiming my work was reviewed, and then being told that it wasn't evaluated. I have asked Milan to provide a genuine, specific assessment of my submitted painting, addressing its composition, technique, originality, execution, and suitability for the exhibition. Not another generic list of artistic principles. Not another lengthy explanation of how passionate they are about helping artists. **I want to know what the judges actually thought of MY artwork and why it was rejected.** There is also the issue of their marketing practices. I work professionally in eCommerce, digital marketing, and conversion optimization. I understand customer acquisition funnels extremely well. Milan explained that rejected applicants receive discounts toward its paid educational programs because the company wants artists to feel they received something for their entry fee. That explanation only reinforced my original concerns. **I did not pay an entry fee to become a prospect for your art courses. I paid to participate in an art exhibition.** I never requested promotional materials for their educational programs, and I do not consider entering an art competition to be blanket consent to receive unrelated marketing offers. When a company combines paid competition entries, promotional messaging to rejected applicants, and expensive educational programs, it raises legitimate questions about whether the competition is primarily about discovering artistic talent or acquiring potential customers. And when that same company acknowledges that my work wasn't evaluated after explicitly telling me it was, those questions become much more serious. Yes, Milan issued my refund. But a refund doesn't erase the contradiction in their own written communications. **How many other artists have received rejection emails claiming their work was reviewed? Were all of those submissions genuinely evaluated?** I cannot answer those questions, but I believe artists deserve answers. I have retained the complete email correspondence, including both contradictory statements, and am happy to provide documentation. **My advice to other artists: Before paying to enter a Milan Art Gallery competition, ask who judges the submissions, how they are evaluated, what relationship the judges have to Milan's educational programs, and whether your entry automatically places you into their marketing funnel.** Artists deserve genuine consideration of their work, transparency, and honest communication. Not marketing pitches disguised as consolation prizes, generic rejection letters, and contradictory explanations about whether their artwork was ever evaluated.

I enrolled in an online art course with Milan Art Institute and made the required payment two weeks ago. I was told that I would receive an email with course access information within 12 hours, but I still have not received any email, login details, or course link.

I enrolled in an online art course with Milan Art Institute and made the required payment two days ago. I was told that I would receive an email with course access information within 12 hours, but I still have not received any email, login details, or course link. I have tried waiting and checking my inbox, but there has been no communication regarding my enrollment. Based on my experience so far, I am very disappointed with the lack of response and support. I would advise potential students to be cautious before making a payment until they can verify that the course access and communication process is reliable.

Worst method I have tried Sorry not for me

too expensive for teachers who stumble over their words and are highly pretentious

Iam satisfied with service provider

I have purchased the $25 How to Create and Abstract Floral Painting. After paying I am unable to register or log in.It keeps sending me to so many other sites.I have wasted an hour now. I have paid and used a few others and the payment and registration was effortless. Thank you for resolving the above.

While I appreciate that this process works for her, I don't think it's the best for beginners, to which the class is marketed. She has trouble talking and painting at the same time so it is harder to get through than prior video tutorials, but the main problem was the process of painting background and subject at the same time, not sketching it out, and the blending was awful. My painting was definitely NOT the best thing I have painted and in my opinion, this class was not worth the cost. Halfway through, it turned into mere damage control. Perhaps my expectations were too high, but I am truly disappointed. I did learn this is not the best method for me though and will continue to seek out my style but I live on social security so I can't afford to try another paid class. To add salt, I was less than 24 hrs late in requesting a refund due to an evening time, so they would not honour their guarantee. Will not do business with them again.