diff --git a/src/events.c b/src/events.c
index fe87513806d4bb34b0a4701baf4061483c92cc58..5fa44c1b5e35622d4a4aecdffff90445718986ac 100644
--- a/src/events.c
+++ b/src/events.c
@@ -492,20 +492,13 @@ static void feh_event_handle_MotionNotify(XEvent * ev)
 		while (XCheckTypedWindowEvent(disp, ev->xmotion.window, MotionNotify, ev));
 		winwid = winwidget_get_from_window(ev->xmotion.window);
 		if ((winwid != NULL) && (winwid->type == WIN_TYPE_THUMBNAIL)) {
-			static feh_thumbnail *last_thumb = NULL;
 			feh_thumbnail *thumbnail;
 			int x, y;
 
 			x = (ev->xbutton.x - winwid->im_x) / winwid->zoom;
 			y = (ev->xbutton.y - winwid->im_y) / winwid->zoom;
 			thumbnail = feh_thumbnail_get_thumbnail_from_coords(x, y);
-			if (thumbnail != last_thumb) {
-				if (thumbnail)
-					feh_thumbnail_mark_selected(winwid, thumbnail);
-				else
-					winwidget_render_image(winwid, 0, 0);
-			}
-			last_thumb = thumbnail;
+			feh_thumbnail_mark_selected(winwid, thumbnail);
 		}
 	}
 	return;
diff --git a/src/thumbnail.c b/src/thumbnail.c
index 4dbc76f1e0d49906f5c2e32b258669a0033b7da6..e99736450772b0f60108af4276052d10d0b075e3 100644
--- a/src/thumbnail.c
+++ b/src/thumbnail.c
@@ -929,25 +929,34 @@ void feh_thumbnail_show_fullsize(feh_file *thumbfile)
 void feh_thumbnail_mark_selected(winwidget winwid, feh_thumbnail *thumbnail)
 {
 	Imlib_Image origwin;
-	origwin = winwid->im;
-	winwid->im = gib_imlib_clone_image(origwin);
-	gib_imlib_image_fill_rectangle(winwid->im,
-			thumbnail->x, thumbnail->y, thumbnail->w,
-			thumbnail->h, 50, 50, 255, 100);
-	gib_imlib_image_draw_rectangle(winwid->im,
-			thumbnail->x, thumbnail->y, thumbnail->w,
-			thumbnail->h, 255, 255, 255, 255);
-	gib_imlib_image_draw_rectangle(winwid->im,
-			thumbnail->x + 1, thumbnail->y + 1,
-			thumbnail->w - 2, thumbnail->h - 2,
-			0, 0, 0, 255);
-	gib_imlib_image_draw_rectangle(winwid->im,
-			thumbnail->x + 2, thumbnail->y + 2,
-			thumbnail->w - 4, thumbnail->h - 4,
-			255, 255, 255, 255);
-	winwidget_render_image(winwid, 0, 0);
-	gib_imlib_free_image_and_decache(winwid->im);
-	winwid->im = origwin;
+
+	if (thumbnail == td.selected)
+		return;
+
+	if (thumbnail) {
+		origwin = winwid->im;
+		winwid->im = gib_imlib_clone_image(origwin);
+		gib_imlib_image_fill_rectangle(winwid->im,
+				thumbnail->x, thumbnail->y, thumbnail->w,
+				thumbnail->h, 50, 50, 255, 100);
+		gib_imlib_image_draw_rectangle(winwid->im,
+				thumbnail->x, thumbnail->y, thumbnail->w,
+				thumbnail->h, 255, 255, 255, 255);
+		gib_imlib_image_draw_rectangle(winwid->im,
+				thumbnail->x + 1, thumbnail->y + 1,
+				thumbnail->w - 2, thumbnail->h - 2,
+				0, 0, 0, 255);
+		gib_imlib_image_draw_rectangle(winwid->im,
+				thumbnail->x + 2, thumbnail->y + 2,
+				thumbnail->w - 4, thumbnail->h - 4,
+				255, 255, 255, 255);
+		winwidget_render_image(winwid, 0, 0);
+		gib_imlib_free_image_and_decache(winwid->im);
+		winwid->im = origwin;
+	} else
+		winwidget_render_image(winwid, 0, 0);
+
+	td.selected = thumbnail;
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/thumbnail.h b/src/thumbnail.h
index e9c3f098c94b5a5e7b3b20a58cfd678a30ccd53a..5bc2864a7e320bff341ba62682c5f39c0256894b 100644
--- a/src/thumbnail.h
+++ b/src/thumbnail.h
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ typedef struct thumbmode_data {
 	int cache_thumbnails;    /* use cached thumbnails from ~/.thumbnails */
 	int cache_dim;           /* 128 = 128x128 ("normal"), 256 = 256x256 ("large") */
 	char *cache_dir;         /* "normal"/"large" (.thumbnails/...) */
+	feh_thumbnail *selected;     /* currently selected thumbnail */
 
 } thumbmode_data;