Sacrifice as a Way of Being with the Creator: A Variant of the Fate by A. N. Feshina

The object of the research was the problem of being a woman with a genius, considered on the example of family relations between the artist Nikolai Ivanovich Feshin and his wife Alexandra Nikolayevna Feshina. The biographical method with elements of existential analysis contributed to the clarification of the issue. The study revealed the sacrifice of A. N. Feshina and disproportionate wasting of the Self by the spouses. This fact was facilitated by the traumatic childhood experience of the artist and the pragmatism of Alexandra Nikolaevna’s choice of a man who resembled her father and had authority in the world of art. The woman in family life, having shown her sacrifice, wasted herself intensively, which led to the levelling of her as a person. The artist took care of himself and the many duties of his wife under him for granted, ceasing to appreciate Alexandra Nikolaevna. Familiarity with the ideas of the new woman served the decision of the artist’s wife to divorce. But even after it Alexandra Nikolaevna could not overcome the strategy of sacrifice in relation to the Other and did not realise herself in creativity, which in old age led to a huge number of problems. The analysis made it possible to clarify the complexities of the relationship with the genius, supported by sacrifice on the part of the woman, and to understand the essence of the Feshins’ divorce. The raised problem of being a woman with a genius requires further consideration on the example of other unions in the world of art.