Martin Scorsese mixed results, gangster epic "Goodfellas" (1990) was a return to form for Scorsese and his most confident and fully realized film since "Raging Bull". De Niro and Joe Pesci offered a virtuoso display of the director's bravura cinematic technique in the film and re-established, enhanced, and consolidated his reputation. After the film was released Roger Ebert, a friend and supporter of Scorsese, named "Goodfellas" "the best mob movie ever" and is ranked No. 1 on Roger's movie list for 1990, along with Gene Siskel and Peter Travers, the film is widely considered one of the director's greatest achievements. The film
Robert De Niro Sr. worked for five years at Hilla Rebay’s legendary Museum of Non-Objective Art. In 1945, he was included in a group show at Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of This Century in New York, which was a leading gallery for the art of both established European modernists and members of the emerging Abstract Expressionist group like Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, and Clyfford Still. De Niro had his first solo exhibition at Guggenheim's gallery in April and May of the following year. At that point, he was primarily working in an abstract manner, often with figural references. Much of his work from