Art Elements of Blue Monday by Annie Lee
Blue Monday is a painting that I’ve seen many times throughout my life. It was created in 1985 by Annie Lee, an African-American artist who’s work often depicted faceless people in order to show expression and emotion through their bodies. Lee made this piece as a self portrait in Chicago, Illinois when she had the idea while getting ready to catch the bus for work on an early, winter morning. This piece was one of her most famously known paintings. This painting is really familiar to me as I have seen it in so many African-American spaces. Everytime I see it all I can think is “same”, especially the older I get. The feeling of exhaustion that shows on her body is very familiar, she captured the emotions so well without having a face to show the expressions. The color is the most noticeable aspect for me. She used mostly blues and whites, as well as deep blacks and browns for herself to capture the feeling of being “blue” or tired, but she also used these colors in different v