diff --git a/docs/latex/wx/cursor.tex b/docs/latex/wx/cursor.tex
index 7a07cdd229..52f428b2a6 100644
--- a/docs/latex/wx/cursor.tex
+++ b/docs/latex/wx/cursor.tex
@@ -74,13 +74,20 @@ Constructs a cursor using a cursor identifier.
 
 \func{}{wxCursor}{\param{const wxImage\&}{ image}}
 
-Constructs a cursor from a wxImage. The cursor is monochrome, colors with the RGB elements all greater
-than 127 will be foreground, colors less than this background. The mask (if any) will be used as transparent.
+Constructs a cursor from a wxImage. If the cursor is monochrome on the current
+platform, colors with the RGB elements all greater than 127 will be foreground,
+colors less than this will be background. The mask (if any) will be used to specify the
+transparent area.
 
-In MSW the foreground will be white and the background black. If the cursor is larger than 32x32 it is resized.
-In GTK, the two most frequent colors will be used for foreground and background. The cursor will be displayed
-at the size of the image.
-On MacOS if the cursor is larger than 16x16 it is resized and currently only shown as black/white (mask respected).
+In wxMSW the foreground will be white and the background black. If the cursor
+is larger than 32x32 it is resized.
+
+In wxGTK, colour cursors and alpha channel are supported (starting from GTK+
+2.2). Otherwise the two most frequent colors will be used for foreground and
+background. In any case, the cursor will be displayed at the size of the image.
+
+In wxMac, if the cursor is larger than 16x16 it is resized and currently only
+shown as black/white (mask respected).
 
 \func{}{wxCursor}{\param{const wxCursor\&}{ cursor}}
 
diff --git a/src/gtk/cursor.cpp b/src/gtk/cursor.cpp
index e4d57ea455..a4f1a0aff3 100644
--- a/src/gtk/cursor.cpp
+++ b/src/gtk/cursor.cpp
@@ -152,13 +152,53 @@ wxCursor::wxCursor(const char bits[], int width, int  height,
 
 #if wxUSE_IMAGE
 
+static void GetHotSpot(const wxImage& image, int& x, int& y)
+{
+    if (image.HasOption(wxIMAGE_OPTION_CUR_HOTSPOT_X))
+        x = image.GetOptionInt(wxIMAGE_OPTION_CUR_HOTSPOT_X);
+    else
+        x = 0;
+
+    if (image.HasOption(wxIMAGE_OPTION_CUR_HOTSPOT_Y))
+        y = image.GetOptionInt(wxIMAGE_OPTION_CUR_HOTSPOT_Y);
+    else
+        y = 0;
+
+    if (x < 0 || x >= image.GetWidth())
+        x = 0;
+    if (y < 0 || y >= image.GetHeight())
+        y = 0;
+}
+
 wxCursor::wxCursor( const wxImage & image )
 {
     int w = image.GetWidth() ;
     int h = image.GetHeight();
     bool bHasMask = image.HasMask();
+    int hotSpotX, hotSpotY;
+    GetHotSpot(image, hotSpotX, hotSpotY);
+    m_refData = new wxCursorRefData;
     wxImage image_copy(image);
 
+    GdkDisplay* display = gdk_drawable_get_display(wxGetRootWindow()->window);
+    if (gdk_display_supports_cursor_color(display))
+    {
+        if (!image.HasAlpha())
+        {
+            // add alpha, so wxBitmap will convert to pixbuf format
+            image_copy.InitAlpha();
+        }
+        wxBitmap bitmap(image_copy);
+        wxASSERT(bitmap.HasPixbuf());
+        M_CURSORDATA->m_cursor = gdk_cursor_new_from_pixbuf
+                             (
+                              display,
+                              bitmap.GetPixbuf(),
+                              hotSpotX, hotSpotY
+                             );
+        return;
+    }
+
     unsigned long keyMaskColor = 0;
     GdkPixmap* mask;
     if (bHasMask)
@@ -250,25 +290,6 @@ wxCursor::wxCursor( const wxImage & image )
         bg = tmp;
     }
 
-    int hotSpotX;
-    int hotSpotY;
-
-    if (image.HasOption(wxIMAGE_OPTION_CUR_HOTSPOT_X))
-        hotSpotX = image.GetOptionInt(wxIMAGE_OPTION_CUR_HOTSPOT_X);
-    else
-        hotSpotX = 0;
-
-    if (image.HasOption(wxIMAGE_OPTION_CUR_HOTSPOT_Y))
-        hotSpotY = image.GetOptionInt(wxIMAGE_OPTION_CUR_HOTSPOT_Y);
-    else
-        hotSpotY = 0;
-
-    if (hotSpotX < 0 || hotSpotX >= w)
-        hotSpotX = 0;
-    if (hotSpotY < 0 || hotSpotY >= h)
-        hotSpotY = 0;
-
-    m_refData = new wxCursorRefData;
     M_CURSORDATA->m_cursor = gdk_cursor_new_from_pixmap
                              (
                                 bitmap.GetPixmap(),