diff --git a/app/display/gimpdisplay.c b/app/display/gimpdisplay.c
index b0fcfed413..bf8a238bf1 100644
--- a/app/display/gimpdisplay.c
+++ b/app/display/gimpdisplay.c
@@ -870,7 +870,12 @@ gimp_display_flush (GimpDisplay *display)
 {
   g_return_if_fail (GIMP_IS_DISPLAY (display));
 
-  gimp_display_flush_whenever (display, FALSE);
+  /* FIXME: we can end up being called during shell construction if "show all"
+   * is enabled by default, in which case the shell's display pointer is still
+   * NULL
+   */
+  if (gimp_display_get_shell (display))
+    gimp_display_flush_whenever (display, FALSE);
 }
 
 void