Caixanova, the Spanish banking firm that brought to Miami its spectacular collection of Goya engravings, is back at the Freedom Tower with The Divine Comedy, an exhibit of engravings created by the rambunctious surrealist Salvador Dalí to celebrate Dante's famous work.

Tuesday's night's opening reception, hosted by Miami Dade College President Eduardo J. Padrón and Julio Fernández Gayoso, the president of Caixanova, brought a well-heeled crowd to view the series of 100 pieces.

Dalí made a series of watercolors between 1951-1954, under a commission from the Italian government to commemorate the 700th anniversary of the birth of poet Dante Alighieri. The exhibit takes a viewer from hell to purgatory and then to paradise, the same journey that Dante took in his books.

''The commission caused outrage among the Italian people because he was a Spanish artist, and this upset Dalí,'' says Jorge Gutiérrez, director of MDC's Galleries.

Five years later, the watercolors were reproduced in wood engravings, which are now part of the Caixanova Collection.

The exhibit runs through Jan. 31 at the Freedom Tower, 600 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; free and open to the public; noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Friday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. For information about films, lectures, tours and engraving workshops related to the exhibit, call the MDC Art Gallery System, 305-237-7186 or write to galleries@mdc.edu.

-- FABIOLA SANTIAGO

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