diff --git a/src/common/imagall.cpp b/src/common/imagall.cpp
index ca44263ad6..aaf6d459c7 100644
--- a/src/common/imagall.cpp
+++ b/src/common/imagall.cpp
@@ -60,6 +60,13 @@ void wxInitAllImageHandlers()
   wxImage::AddHandler( new wxCURHandler );
   wxImage::AddHandler( new wxANIHandler );
 #endif
+#if wxUSE_XPM && (defined(__WXGTK__) || defined(__WXMOTIF__))
+  // NB: keep this #ifdef in sync with the one in image.cpp
+  //     (wxImage::InitStandardHandlers) - they must complement each other
+  //     so that there's always exactly one XPM handler added after calling
+  //     wxInitAllImageHandlers()
+  wxImage::AddHandler( new wxXPMHandler );
+#endif
 }
 
 #endif // wxUSE_IMAGE
diff --git a/src/common/image.cpp b/src/common/image.cpp
index 3e922fad22..f26ae13855 100644
--- a/src/common/image.cpp
+++ b/src/common/image.cpp
@@ -1269,6 +1269,9 @@ void wxImage::InitStandardHandlers()
 #endif // wxUSE_STREAMS
 
 #if wxUSE_XPM && !defined(__WXGTK__) && !defined(__WXMOTIF__)
+    // NB: keep this #ifdef in sync with the one in imagall.cpp -
+    //     they must complement each other so that there's always exactly
+    //     one XPM handler added after calling wxInitAllImageHandlers()
     AddHandler(new wxXPMHandler);
 #endif
 }