diff --git a/include/wx/display.h b/include/wx/display.h
index f05c0c8451..b9fec42aba 100644
--- a/include/wx/display.h
+++ b/include/wx/display.h
@@ -42,12 +42,14 @@ class WXDLLIMPEXP_FWD_CORE wxDisplayImpl;
 class WXDLLIMPEXP_CORE wxDisplay
 {
 public:
+    // default ctor creates the object corresponding to the primary display
+    wxDisplay();
+
     // initialize the object containing all information about the given
     // display
     //
-    // the displays are numbered from 0 to GetCount() - 1, 0 is always the
-    // primary display and the only one which is always supported
-    wxDisplay(unsigned n = 0);
+    // the displays are numbered from 0 to GetCount() - 1
+    explicit wxDisplay(unsigned n);
 
     // create display object corresponding to the display of the given window
     // or the default one if the window display couldn't be found
diff --git a/include/wx/private/display.h b/include/wx/private/display.h
index e7358f6e18..36f5985fbb 100644
--- a/include/wx/private/display.h
+++ b/include/wx/private/display.h
@@ -37,6 +37,9 @@ public:
         return m_impls[n];
     }
 
+    // Return the primary display object, creating it if necessary.
+    wxDisplayImpl* GetPrimaryDisplay();
+
     // get the total number of displays
     virtual unsigned GetCount() = 0;
 
diff --git a/interface/wx/display.h b/interface/wx/display.h
index 3c4e28f4bb..2085ff15db 100644
--- a/interface/wx/display.h
+++ b/interface/wx/display.h
@@ -16,6 +16,12 @@
 class wxDisplay
 {
 public:
+    /**
+        Default constructor creating wxDisplay object representing the primary
+        display.
+     */
+    wxDisplay();
+
     /**
         Constructor, setting up a wxDisplay instance with the specified
         display.
@@ -24,7 +30,7 @@ public:
             The index of the display to use. This must be non-negative and
             lower than the value returned by GetCount().
     */
-    wxDisplay(unsigned int index = 0);
+    explicit wxDisplay(unsigned int index);
 
     /**
         Constructor creating the display object associated with the given
diff --git a/src/common/dpycmn.cpp b/src/common/dpycmn.cpp
index 24e77f237f..4f0d537ef1 100644
--- a/src/common/dpycmn.cpp
+++ b/src/common/dpycmn.cpp
@@ -77,6 +77,11 @@ wxIMPLEMENT_DYNAMIC_CLASS(wxDisplayModule, wxModule);
 // ctor/dtor
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+wxDisplay::wxDisplay()
+{
+    m_impl = Factory().GetPrimaryDisplay();
+}
+
 wxDisplay::wxDisplay(unsigned n)
 {
     wxASSERT_MSG( n == 0 || n < GetCount(),
@@ -89,7 +94,8 @@ wxDisplay::wxDisplay(const wxWindow* window)
 {
     const int n = GetFromWindow(window);
 
-    m_impl = Factory().GetDisplay(n != wxNOT_FOUND ? n : 0);
+    m_impl = n != wxNOT_FOUND ? Factory().GetDisplay(n)
+                              : Factory().GetPrimaryDisplay();
 }
 
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -245,6 +251,24 @@ void wxDisplayFactory::ClearImpls()
     m_impls.clear();
 }
 
+wxDisplayImpl* wxDisplayFactory::GetPrimaryDisplay()
+{
+    // Just use dumb linear search -- there seems to be the most reliable way
+    // to do this in general. In particular, primary monitor is not guaranteed
+    // to be the first one and it's not obvious if it always contains (0, 0).
+    const unsigned count = GetCount();
+    for ( unsigned n = 0; n < count; ++n )
+    {
+        wxDisplayImpl* const d = GetDisplay(n);
+        if ( d && d->IsPrimary() )
+            return d;
+    }
+
+    // This is not supposed to happen, but what else can we do if it
+    // somehow does?
+    return NULL;
+}
+
 int wxDisplayFactory::GetFromWindow(const wxWindow *window)
 {
     wxCHECK_MSG( window, wxNOT_FOUND, "window can't be NULL" );