Ben Milburn studied at Falmouth School of Art and Bath Academy of Art (Corsham), obtaining a BA in Fine Art, Painting. Peter Kinley, Michael Kidner and Michael Simpson were the principal tutors who shaped his outlook and understanding. Reading has been central to the development of ideas underpinning his painting—especially the works of Tolstoy, Turgenev, Gogol and Dostoyevsky, alongside the poetry of Rumi, Hafez, and Garcia Lorca. It is ideas that capture the ambiguities and complexities of life, identity and value that inform his practice.

His artistic lineage includes painters such as Velázquez, Meléndez, Goya, Bacon, Pollock, Rothko, Ryman and John Salt, whose varied approaches have contributed to his visual language. He lives and works in Brixton, South London, and is engaged part‑time in education.