Interesting question! I wasn’t sure but I did some research and in old paintings the colour white was made from lead. Lead is toxic and really dangerous to humans, it can cause death.
Lots of toxic substances are coloured green, red, blue and yellow.
How about orpiment? It’s a mineral rock with a beautiful orange/yellow colour that could be crushed mixed with oil or wax and used in paintings by Van Gogh, Gaugin and others. It’s really dangerous. Why? Because orpiment is made up of a compound of arsenic (arsenic trisulphide). Some objects at the British Museum were painted using orpiment (even Egyptian coffins containing mummies). The scientists are often asked to confirm that the colour is indeed orpiment so that when the coffin is moved or cleaned, we can take precautions to ensure that no-one comes into contact with any toxic substances.
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anon-193397 commented on :
wow that is really mindblowing