“The Designers,” created by Fernando Botero in the year 2000, belongs to the Naïve Art (Primitivism) movement and is a genre painting. The artwork depicts a group of individuals involved in the act of designing and sewing, showcasing Botero’s distinctive style characterized by exaggerated proportions and volumetric forms.
In the artwork, four women are depicted in a domestic setting filled with bolts of colorful fabric. One woman in the center is seated at a sewing machine, diligently engaged in her work, while another, seated to her left, focuses intently on hand-stitching a piece of red fabric. Another woman stands behind, holding scissors, poised to support the ongoing work. To the back, a fourth woman reaches up to organize the stacked fabrics, indicating a collaborative effort within this workspace. In the foreground, a contented cat lies on a green fabric, adding a tranquil domestic touch to the scene. Botero’s use of vibrant colors and rounded, fleshy figures imparts a sense of warmth and affability to this portrayal of everyday life.