The Met is selling art to survive the pandemic. Critics say it's a dangerous precedent. Peggy McGlone and Sebastian Smee, The Washington Post March 8, 2021 FacebookTwitterEmail People sit on the steps during the public reopening at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan, New York on Aug. 30, 2020.Photo by Jeenah Moon for The Washington Post. The Metropolitan Museum of Art approved a policy last week that allows proceeds from the sale of works from its collection to be used for salaries and overhead costs associated with the collection's care. The move follows similar actions by other museums, including ones in Brooklyn, Baltimore and Chicago, and marks the latest development in a debate that has been roiling the museum field, and has set some of the country's leading museum directors against one another.