Sergey Ivanovich Nikiforov was a Russian painter and monumental artist whose work combined the traditions of realist painting with an impressionistic treatment of light. He worked across painting and monumental art, producing landscapes, portraits, and genre scenes, and later devoted much of his practice to religious subjects, icon painting, and the restoration of church art.

Born in Obukhovo near Moscow, Nikiforov taught art and drawing at a public school before the Second World War. From June 1941 to May 1945, he served in the Red Army. In 1946, he entered the Moscow Institute of Applied and Decorative Arts, where he specialised in monumental art and studied under artists including Aleksandr Deineka and Schukhmin.

After graduating, Nikiforov joined the artistic foundation of the Artists' Union, working on a range of monumental projects. At the same time, he taught drawing at the Moscow Architectural Institute under Deineka. From 1972 to 1980, he taught at the monumental painting department of the Moscow Surikov Art Institute, and later continued teaching at a secondary art school until 1986. Among his pupils was the Moscow artist Alexander Shilov.

Nikiforov remained outside the established Soviet art world and was repeatedly at odds with its official institutions. His father had been purged in the 1930s, while Nikiforov himself maintained an interest in religious imagery. During the 1950s and 1960s, he secretly travelled to churches in Moscow and the surrounding region, where he worked on religious decorations.

During the 1970s, Nikiforov produced a series of paintings critical of the Soviet Union. Although these works placed him outside the official artistic system, he did not become part of the organised nonconformist art groups. He kept the paintings in his studio, showing them publicly for the first time in 1987.

Nikiforov worked in different techniques and media throughout his career. His landscapes, portraits, and genre scenes were rooted in realist painting but incorporated an impressionistic treatment of colour and light. His oil paintings are particularly noted for their luminous quality and distinctive handling of light.

In the later part of his career, Nikiforov increasingly turned to religious subjects, icon painting, and the restoration of church art. Among his final major projects were the restoration of icons and frescoes at the Church of St. Peter and Paul and the Holy Trinity Church in Obukhovo, around 40 kilometres from Moscow.