Nikolai Ivanovich Feshin was born in Kazan on November 26, 1881, into a family where his father was engaged in carving iconostases. From the age of nine, he began helping in his father's workshop, participating in fulfilling orders. His talent was noticed by the first director of the Kazan Art School, N. N. Belkovich. In 1903, Feshin entered the workshop of I. E. Repin.

A significant work for Feshin was the painting "Lady in Lilac." The name of the woman who served as the model for this portrait is unknown. A canvas with a previous inscription was used to create the study, which gave the background of the painting a complex color palette. The artist paid special attention to the individuality of the model, so the face is depicted almost photographically, while the rest of the space appears semi-abstract. This painting unexpectedly won Feshin a small gold medal at the international exhibition in Munich, even though it was a student work.

Feshin's competition work was "Cabbage Harvest," which has much in common with "Cheremis Wedding." He painted it in Kazan, choosing a plot from village life, the salting of cabbage for winter during the Feast of the Exaltation. This allowed him to express a combination of joy and gloom, health and poverty. An important work for Feshin was the portrait of Varya Adoratskaya, painted in 1914, which was compared to V. A. Serov's "Girl with Peaches."

In 1923, Feshin emigrated to the USA, where he quickly integrated into the artistic life of New York. Just a few months after his arrival, 18 of his works were included in the annual Winter Exhibition of the National Academy of Design, where he received the Thomas R. Proctor Prize for portrait painting.

In the summer of 1927, the Feshin family acquired a plot of land near Taos and began building a house, designed by Feshin himself. According to his daughter Iya's memories, he liked Mexican adobe houses that seemed to "grow" from the ground, so the house was built from white adobe bricks. In Taos, Feshin, in addition to painting and carving, became interested in ceramics and took lessons from local Indian artist Maria Martinez. He also expanded the themes of wooden sculpture and tried to embody the pictorial images of M. Vrubel in his plastic works.

In 1934, a drama occurred in Feshin's life: after 20 years of marriage, Alexandra Nikolaevna demanded a divorce. According to Iya Feshina, she sought independence and dreamed of becoming a writer, tired of living in her husband's shadow. There were also complaints about Feshin's character.

The remainder of Feshin's life was spent in solitude, corresponding with his daughter, who occasionally visited him. In 1953 or 1954, he wrote an autobiography in Russian, which was published only in excerpts in English; it mainly focuses on his life in Russia. His savings ran out, and he lived on a small income from private drawing lessons. Nikolai Ivanovich Feshin passed away in his sleep on October 5, 1955, without finishing a landscape. In 1976, Iya Feshina reburied her father's ashes in Kazan, fulfilling his last wish.