It Tastes Like Vermilion Chicken

This came from my calendar the other day:

In the nineteenth century, chemical research resulted in the development of some twenty new pigments, many of which were much brighter and more stable than those previously available.  Vincent van Gogh took advantage of all these innovations.  Unfortunately, many of these pigments might have contributed to his ill health.  The brilliant Emerald Green, with its concentrated copper/arsenic base, is highly toxic and was sold also as an insecticide to kill rats.  It’s been theorized that van Gogh’s neurological symptoms were caused by arsenic poisoning, although the lead in flake white and the mercury in vermilion could also have played a role – particularly when you consider that, in the extremes of his madness, van Gogh ate paint directly from the tube.

I found this trivia especially interesting because van Gogh was a favorite of my grandfather.  I have his copy of Sunflowers hanging in my house.  So I guess this information begs the following chicken/egg question: Which came first van Gogh’s madness or eating paint out of the tube?  Even if he wasn’t unbalanced before, I would have to suggest that eating paint is not normal.  We all know what we thought of the kid that ate paste in kindergarten.