diff --git a/src/events.c b/src/events.c
index c0b1269124e8c2b306ea9aca6bc00bb33e279af5..def4651bbc9b190dbf035ecd13b19b706fa4fff6 100644
--- a/src/events.c
+++ b/src/events.c
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ static void feh_event_handle_ButtonPress(XEvent * ev)
 				- winwid->im_y) / winwid->old_zoom;
 	} else if (ev->xbutton.button == opt.reload_button) {
 		D(("Reload Button Press event\n"));
-			feh_reload_image(winwid, 0, 0);
+			feh_reload_image(winwid, 0, 1);
 	} else if (ev->xbutton.button == opt.prev_button) {
 		D(("Prev Button Press event\n"));
 		if (winwid->type == WIN_TYPE_SLIDESHOW)
diff --git a/src/menu.c b/src/menu.c
index 50aa50f109c2cb553c3e7af24de16448df9a0a44..8a3258be21fa408a69833c4e5a52f134b68da6db 100644
--- a/src/menu.c
+++ b/src/menu.c
@@ -1302,7 +1302,7 @@ void feh_menu_cb(feh_menu * m, feh_menu_item * i, int action, void *data)
 			winwidget_render_image(m->fehwin, 1, 0);
 			break;
 		case CB_RELOAD:
-			feh_reload_image(m->fehwin, 0, 0);
+			feh_reload_image(m->fehwin, 0, 1);
 			break;
 		case CB_REMOVE:
 			feh_filelist_image_remove(m->fehwin, 0);
diff --git a/src/slideshow.c b/src/slideshow.c
index e47b8969c9b07a9ae215c1cbbd3ba4f236601da3..e6ffb56ce774437c16c271a6f7eed4d435475110 100644
--- a/src/slideshow.c
+++ b/src/slideshow.c
@@ -171,11 +171,19 @@ void feh_reload_image(winwidget w, int resize, int force_new)
 	old_w = gib_imlib_image_get_width(w->im);
 	old_h = gib_imlib_image_get_height(w->im);
 
-	/* if the image has changed in dimensions - we gotta resize */
+	/*
+	 * If we don't free the old image before loading the new one, Imlib2's
+	 * caching will get in our way.
+	 * However, if --reload is used (force_new == 0), we want to continue if
+	 * the new image cannot be loaded, so we must not free the old image yet.
+	 */
+	if (force_new)
+		winwidget_free_image(w);
+
 	if ((feh_load_image(&tmp, FEH_FILE(w->file->data))) == 0) {
-		if (force_new) {
+		if (force_new)
 			eprintf("failed to reload image\n");
-		} else {
+		else {
 			im_weprintf(w, "Couldn't reload image. Is it still there?");
 			winwidget_render_image(w, 0, 0);
 		}
@@ -189,8 +197,8 @@ void feh_reload_image(winwidget w, int resize, int force_new)
 			(old_h != gib_imlib_image_get_height(tmp))))
 		resize = 1;
 
-	/* force imlib2 not to cache */
-	winwidget_free_image(w);
+	if (!force_new)
+		winwidget_free_image(w);
 
 	w->im = tmp;
 	winwidget_reset_image(w);
diff --git a/src/thumbnail.c b/src/thumbnail.c
index ee8b101f3469971844fe45ff4eca0a2c36dccc8f..0c8d00a882887a23c4b769bdd4065b5a7bd0d5c0 100644
--- a/src/thumbnail.c
+++ b/src/thumbnail.c
@@ -922,7 +922,7 @@ void feh_thumbnail_show_fullsize(feh_file *thumbfile)
 		free(thumbwin->file);
 		thumbwin->file = gib_list_add_front(NULL, thumbfile);
 		winwidget_rename(thumbwin, s);
-		feh_reload_image(thumbwin, 1, 0);
+		feh_reload_image(thumbwin, 1, 1);
 	}
 }