In the early 1990s Nonda made an initial return to darker colors. A large grey canvas entitled “The Monsters” was begun in Paris and reworked for some years. “I am battling with monsters” said Nonda and in some ways this struggle is reflected in these ominous and troubled forms. Haunted by depression and the first signs of his long struggle with Alzheimer's, his work process slowed considerably and he was disturbed by unsettling visions. Oddly, in a sudden rejection of this Manichean outlook, his last paintings were a bright series of fish on blue backgrounds. He was very excited by this return to his figurative origins and made numerous trips to the fish market in Athens to buy “models”. In the 1950s he had painted many fish, sometimes “on-site” in the fish market in Les Halles and it is a theme that remained as constant as the female figure in his life's oeuvre.