diff --git a/src/gtk/dataview.cpp b/src/gtk/dataview.cpp
index 935f9ef11c..81de210a39 100644
--- a/src/gtk/dataview.cpp
+++ b/src/gtk/dataview.cpp
@@ -244,6 +244,13 @@ public:
 
     bool IsSorted() const                       { return m_sort_column >= 0; }
 
+    // Freezing sort temporarily disables sorting when inserting the items into
+    // the tree as an optimization when inserting many items. Sort must be
+    // thawed, by calling FreezeSort(false), before inserting the last item to
+    // ensure that the items still end up in the right order.
+    void FreezeSort(bool freeze)                { m_sort_frozen = freeze; }
+    bool IsSortFrozen() const                   { return m_sort_frozen; }
+
     // Should we be sorted either because we have a configured sort column or
     // because we have a default sort order?
     bool ShouldBeSorted() const
@@ -286,6 +293,7 @@ private:
     GtkSortType           m_sort_order;
     wxDataViewColumn     *m_dataview_sort_column;
     int                   m_sort_column;
+    bool                  m_sort_frozen;
 
     GtkTargetEntry        m_dragSourceTargetEntry;
     wxCharBuffer          m_dragSourceTargetEntryTarget;
@@ -352,7 +360,7 @@ public:
 
             m_children.Add( id );
 
-            if (m_internal->ShouldBeSorted())
+            if ( !m_internal->IsSortFrozen() && m_internal->ShouldBeSorted() )
             {
                 gs_internal = m_internal;
                 m_children.Sort( &wxGtkTreeModelChildCmp );
@@ -399,7 +407,7 @@ public:
         {
             m_children.Insert( id, pos );
 
-            if (m_internal->ShouldBeSorted())
+            if ( !m_internal->IsSortFrozen() && m_internal->ShouldBeSorted() )
             {
                 gs_internal = m_internal;
                 m_children.Sort( &wxGtkTreeModelChildCmp );
@@ -451,6 +459,8 @@ public:
     wxDataViewItem &GetItem() { return m_item; }
     wxDataViewCtrlInternal *GetInternal() { return m_internal; }
 
+    void FreezeSort(bool freeze) { m_internal->FreezeSort(freeze); }
+
     void Resort();
 
 private:
@@ -3624,6 +3634,7 @@ wxDataViewCtrlInternal::wxDataViewCtrlInternal( wxDataViewCtrl *owner, wxDataVie
     m_root = NULL;
     m_sort_order = GTK_SORT_ASCENDING;
     m_sort_column = -1;
+    m_sort_frozen = false;
     m_dataview_sort_column = NULL;
 
     m_dragDataObject = NULL;
@@ -3719,11 +3730,21 @@ void wxDataViewCtrlInternal::BuildBranch( wxGtkTreeModelNode *node )
         wxDataViewItemArray children;
         unsigned int count = m_wx_model->GetChildren( node->GetItem(), children );
 
+        // Avoid sorting children multiple times when inserting many nodes,
+        // this results in O(N^2*log(N)) complexity.
+        if ( count > 1 )
+            node->FreezeSort(true);
+
         unsigned int pos;
         for (pos = 0; pos < count; pos++)
         {
             wxDataViewItem child = children[pos];
 
+            // Rr-enable sorting before inserting the last child if we had
+            // disabled it above.
+            if ( pos == count - 1 && pos != 0 )
+                node->FreezeSort(false);
+
             if (m_wx_model->IsContainer( child ))
                 node->AddNode( new wxGtkTreeModelNode( node, child, this ) );
             else