diff --git a/include/wx/msw/private/paint.h b/include/wx/msw/private/paint.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..abd0c44cd1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/wx/msw/private/paint.h
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+// Name:        wx/msw/private/paint.h
+// Purpose:     Helpers for handling repainting
+// Author:      Vadim Zeitlin
+// Created:     2020-02-10
+// Copyright:   (c) 2020 Vadim Zeitlin <vadim@wxwidgets.org>
+// Licence:     wxWindows licence
+///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+
+#ifndef _WX_MSW_PRIVATE_PAINT_H_
+#define _WX_MSW_PRIVATE_PAINT_H_
+
+#include "wx/stack.h"
+
+namespace wxMSWImpl
+{
+
+// Data used by WM_PAINT handler
+struct PaintData
+{
+    explicit PaintData(wxWindowMSW* window_)
+        : window(window_),
+          createdPaintDC(false)
+    {
+    }
+
+    // The window being repainted (never null).
+    wxWindowMSW* const window;
+
+    // True if the user-defined paint handler created wxPaintDC.
+    bool createdPaintDC;
+};
+
+// Stack storing data for the possibly nested WM_PAINT handlers.
+extern wxStack<PaintData> paintStack;
+
+} // namespace wxMSWImpl
+
+#endif // _WX_MSW_PRIVATE_PAINT_H_
diff --git a/src/msw/dcclient.cpp b/src/msw/dcclient.cpp
index 2b628ef97d..d178e0e7ed 100644
--- a/src/msw/dcclient.cpp
+++ b/src/msw/dcclient.cpp
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 #include "wx/stack.h"
 
 #include "wx/msw/private.h"
+#include "wx/msw/private/paint.h"
 
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // local data structures
@@ -257,11 +258,13 @@ wxPaintDCImpl::wxPaintDCImpl( wxDC *owner, wxWindow *window ) :
 {
     wxCHECK_RET( window, wxT("NULL canvas in wxPaintDCImpl ctor") );
 
-    // see comments in src/msw/window.cpp where this is defined
-    extern wxStack<bool> wxDidCreatePaintDC;
-
-    wxDidCreatePaintDC.top() = true;
+    using namespace wxMSWImpl;
+    wxCHECK_RET( !paintStack.empty(),
+                 "wxPaintDC can't be created outside wxEVT_PAINT handler" );
+    wxCHECK_RET( paintStack.top().window == window,
+                 "wxPaintDC must be associated with the window being repainted" );
 
+    paintStack.top().createdPaintDC = true;
 
     m_window = window;
 
diff --git a/src/msw/window.cpp b/src/msw/window.cpp
index f207a8afd7..0d06fcf9a5 100644
--- a/src/msw/window.cpp
+++ b/src/msw/window.cpp
@@ -63,7 +63,6 @@
 #include "wx/popupwin.h"
 #include "wx/power.h"
 #include "wx/scopeguard.h"
-#include "wx/stack.h"
 #include "wx/sysopt.h"
 
 #if wxUSE_DRAG_AND_DROP
@@ -81,6 +80,7 @@
 
 #include "wx/msw/private.h"
 #include "wx/msw/private/keyboard.h"
+#include "wx/msw/private/paint.h"
 #include "wx/msw/private/winstyle.h"
 #include "wx/msw/dcclient.h"
 #include "wx/msw/seh.h"
@@ -5240,8 +5240,7 @@ wxColour wxWindowMSW::MSWGetThemeColour(const wchar_t *themeName,
 // endless stream of WM_PAINT messages for this window resulting in a lot of
 // difficult to debug problems (e.g. impossibility to repaint other windows,
 // lack of timer and idle events and so on)
-extern wxStack<bool> wxDidCreatePaintDC;
-wxStack<bool> wxDidCreatePaintDC;
+wxStack<wxMSWImpl::PaintData> wxMSWImpl::paintStack;
 
 bool wxWindowMSW::HandlePaint()
 {
@@ -5257,14 +5256,17 @@ bool wxWindowMSW::HandlePaint()
 
     m_updateRegion = wxRegion((WXHRGN) hRegion);
 
-    wxDidCreatePaintDC.push(false);
+    using namespace wxMSWImpl;
+
+    paintStack.push(PaintData(this));
 
     wxPaintEvent event(m_windowId);
     event.SetEventObject(this);
 
     bool processed = HandleWindowEvent(event);
 
-    if ( wxDidCreatePaintDC.top() && !processed )
+    const bool createdPaintDC = paintStack.top().createdPaintDC;
+    if ( createdPaintDC && !processed )
     {
         // Event handler did paint something as wxPaintDC object was created
         // but then it must have skipped the event to indicate that default
@@ -5288,16 +5290,16 @@ bool wxWindowMSW::HandlePaint()
 
     wxPaintDCImpl::EndPaint((wxWindow *)this);
 
+    paintStack.pop();
+
     // It doesn't matter whether the event was actually processed or not here,
     // what matters is whether we already painted, and hence validated, the
     // window or not. If we did, either the event was processed or we called
     // OnPaint() above, so we should return true. If we did not, even the event
     // was processed, we must still call MSWDefWindowProc() to ensure that the
     // window is validated, i.e. to avoid the problem described in the comment
-    // before wxDidCreatePaintDC definition above.
-    const bool ret = wxDidCreatePaintDC.top();
-    wxDidCreatePaintDC.pop();
-    return ret;
+    // before paintStack definition above.
+    return createdPaintDC;
 }
 
 // Can be called from an application's OnPaint handler