diff --git a/document.c b/document.c
index 8802593..6525711 100644
--- a/document.c
+++ b/document.c
@@ -386,6 +386,7 @@ zathura_page_get(zathura_document_t* document, unsigned int page_id)
     page->rendered     = false;
     page->event_box    = gtk_event_box_new();
     page->drawing_area = gtk_drawing_area_new();
+    page->surface      = NULL;
     g_signal_connect(page->drawing_area, "expose-event", G_CALLBACK(page_expose_event), page);
 
     gtk_container_add(GTK_CONTAINER(page->event_box), page->drawing_area);
diff --git a/document.h b/document.h
index 2536958..56a3e90 100644
--- a/document.h
+++ b/document.h
@@ -150,6 +150,7 @@ struct zathura_page_s
   GtkWidget* event_box; /**> Widget wrapper for mouse events */
   GtkWidget* drawing_area; /**> Drawing area */
   GStaticMutex lock; /**> Lock */
+	cairo_surface_t* surface; /** Cairo surface */
 };
 
 /**
diff --git a/render.c b/render.c
index 967f7b9..3be9558 100644
--- a/render.c
+++ b/render.c
@@ -176,10 +176,7 @@ render(zathura_t* zathura, zathura_page_t* page)
   }
 
   /* draw to gtk widget */
-  cairo_t* cairo = gdk_cairo_create(page->drawing_area->window);
-  cairo_set_source_surface(cairo, surface, 0, 0);
-  cairo_paint(cairo);
-  cairo_destroy(cairo);
+  page->surface = surface;
 
   zathura_image_buffer_free(image_buffer);
   g_static_mutex_unlock(&(page->lock));
@@ -209,22 +206,30 @@ gboolean
 page_expose_event(GtkWidget* widget, GdkEventExpose* event, gpointer data)
 {
   zathura_page_t* page = data;
+  if (page == NULL) {
+    return FALSE;
+  }
+
   g_static_mutex_lock(&(page->lock));
 
   cairo_t* cairo = gdk_cairo_create(page->drawing_area->window);
 
   if (cairo == NULL) {
-    girara_error("Could not create blank page");
+    girara_error("Could not retreive cairo object");
     g_static_mutex_unlock(&(page->lock));
-    return false;
+    return FALSE;
   }
 
-  cairo_set_source_rgb(cairo, 0, 0, 0);
-  cairo_rectangle(cairo, 0, 0, page->width, page->height);
-  cairo_fill(cairo);
-  cairo_destroy(cairo);
+  if (page->surface == NULL) {
+    cairo_set_source_surface(cairo, page->surface, 0, 0);
+    cairo_paint(cairo);
+    cairo_destroy(cairo);
+
+    cairo_surface_destroy(page->surface);
+    page->surface = NULL;
+  }
 
   g_static_mutex_unlock(&(page->lock));
 
-  return true;
+  return TRUE;
 }