diff --git a/libgimpwidgets/Makefile.am b/libgimpwidgets/Makefile.am
index d1a7726edd..2e99f00721 100644
--- a/libgimpwidgets/Makefile.am
+++ b/libgimpwidgets/Makefile.am
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ libgimpwidgetsincludedir = $(includedir)/gimp-$(GIMP_API_VERSION)/libgimpwidgets
 AM_CPPFLAGS = \
 	-DG_LOG_DOMAIN=\"LibGimpWidgets\"	\
 	-DGIMP_WIDGETS_COMPILATION		\
-	-DDATADIR=\""$(datadir)"\"		\
+	-DDATAROOTDIR=\""$(datarootdir)"\"	\
 	-I$(top_srcdir)				\
 	$(GEGL_CFLAGS)				\
 	$(GTK_CFLAGS)				\
diff --git a/libgimpwidgets/gimpwidgets-private.c b/libgimpwidgets/gimpwidgets-private.c
index 83c46b6e90..f435c35b34 100644
--- a/libgimpwidgets/gimpwidgets-private.c
+++ b/libgimpwidgets/gimpwidgets-private.c
@@ -65,8 +65,9 @@ gimp_widgets_init (GimpHelpFunc          standard_help_func,
                    GimpGetColorFunc      get_background_func,
                    GimpEnsureModulesFunc ensure_modules_func)
 {
-  const gchar *svg_icon = DATADIR "/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/gimp.svg";
   GList       *icons = NULL;
+  gchar       *base_dir;
+  gchar       *path;
   GdkPixbuf   *pixbuf;
 
   g_return_if_fail (standard_help_func != NULL);
@@ -83,6 +84,12 @@ gimp_widgets_init (GimpHelpFunc          standard_help_func,
 
   gimp_icons_init ();
 
+#ifdef ENABLE_RELOCATABLE_RESOURCES
+  base_dir = g_build_filename (gimp_installation_directory (), "share", "icons", "hicolor", NULL);
+#else
+  base_dir = g_build_filename (DATAROOTDIR, "icons", "hicolor", NULL);
+#endif
+
   /* Loading the application icons. Unfortunately GTK doesn't know how
    * to load any size from a single SVG, so we have to generate common
    * sizes ourselves.
@@ -90,31 +97,40 @@ gimp_widgets_init (GimpHelpFunc          standard_help_func,
    * then the application icon is dependant to the theme and for now at
    * least, we want the installed icon.
    */
-  pixbuf = gdk_pixbuf_new_from_file (DATADIR "/icons/hicolor/16x16/apps/gimp.png", NULL);
+  path   = g_build_filename (base_dir, "16x16/apps/gimp.png", NULL);
+  pixbuf = gdk_pixbuf_new_from_file (DATAROOTDIR "/icons/hicolor/16x16/apps/gimp.png", NULL);
   if (pixbuf)
     icons = g_list_prepend (icons, pixbuf);
   else
-    g_warning ("Application icon missing: %s", DATADIR "/icons/hicolor/16x16/apps/gimp.png");
+    g_warning ("Application icon missing: %s", path);
+  g_free (path);
 
-  pixbuf = gdk_pixbuf_new_from_file (DATADIR "/icons/hicolor/32x32/apps/gimp.png", NULL);
+  path   = g_build_filename (base_dir, "32x32/apps/gimp.png", NULL);
+  pixbuf = gdk_pixbuf_new_from_file (DATAROOTDIR "/icons/hicolor/32x32/apps/gimp.png", NULL);
   if (pixbuf)
     icons = g_list_prepend (icons, pixbuf);
   else
-    g_warning ("Application icon missing: %s", DATADIR "/icons/hicolor/32x32/apps/gimp.png");
+    g_warning ("Application icon missing: %s", path);
+  g_free (path);
 
-  pixbuf = gdk_pixbuf_new_from_file (DATADIR "/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/gimp.png", NULL);
+  path   = g_build_filename (base_dir, "48x48/apps/gimp.png", NULL);
+  pixbuf = gdk_pixbuf_new_from_file (DATAROOTDIR "/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/gimp.png", NULL);
   if (pixbuf)
     icons = g_list_prepend (icons, pixbuf);
   else
-    g_warning ("Application icon missing: %s", DATADIR "/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/gimp.png");
+    g_warning ("Application icon missing: %s", path);
+  g_free (path);
 
-  pixbuf = gdk_pixbuf_new_from_file (DATADIR "/icons/hicolor/64x64/apps/gimp.png", NULL);
+  path   = g_build_filename (base_dir, "64x64/apps/gimp.png", NULL);
+  pixbuf = gdk_pixbuf_new_from_file (DATAROOTDIR "/icons/hicolor/64x64/apps/gimp.png", NULL);
   if (pixbuf)
     icons = g_list_prepend (icons, pixbuf);
   else
-    g_warning ("Application icon missing: %s", DATADIR "/icons/hicolor/64x64/apps/gimp.png");
+    g_warning ("Application icon missing: %s", path);
+  g_free (path);
 
-  pixbuf = gdk_pixbuf_new_from_file_at_size (svg_icon, 128, 128, NULL);
+  path   = g_build_filename (base_dir, "scalable/apps/gimp.svg", NULL);
+  pixbuf = gdk_pixbuf_new_from_file_at_size (path, 128, 128, NULL);
   if (pixbuf)
     {
       /* Various common sizes from the same SVG. Why I go into such
@@ -124,31 +140,34 @@ gimp_widgets_init (GimpHelpFunc          standard_help_func,
        */
       icons = g_list_prepend (icons, pixbuf);
 
-      pixbuf = gdk_pixbuf_new_from_file_at_size (svg_icon, 144, 144, NULL);
+      pixbuf = gdk_pixbuf_new_from_file_at_size (path, 144, 144, NULL);
       icons = g_list_prepend (icons, pixbuf);
 
-      pixbuf = gdk_pixbuf_new_from_file_at_size (svg_icon, 160, 160, NULL);
+      pixbuf = gdk_pixbuf_new_from_file_at_size (path, 160, 160, NULL);
       icons = g_list_prepend (icons, pixbuf);
 
-      pixbuf = gdk_pixbuf_new_from_file_at_size (svg_icon, 176, 176, NULL);
+      pixbuf = gdk_pixbuf_new_from_file_at_size (path, 176, 176, NULL);
       icons = g_list_prepend (icons, pixbuf);
 
-      pixbuf = gdk_pixbuf_new_from_file_at_size (svg_icon, 192, 192, NULL);
+      pixbuf = gdk_pixbuf_new_from_file_at_size (path, 192, 192, NULL);
       icons = g_list_prepend (icons, pixbuf);
 
-      pixbuf = gdk_pixbuf_new_from_file_at_size (svg_icon, 224, 224, NULL);
+      pixbuf = gdk_pixbuf_new_from_file_at_size (path, 224, 224, NULL);
       icons = g_list_prepend (icons, pixbuf);
     }
   else
     {
-      g_warning ("Application icon missing: %s", svg_icon);
+      g_warning ("Application icon missing: %s", path);
     }
+  g_free (path);
 
-  pixbuf = gdk_pixbuf_new_from_file (DATADIR "/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/gimp.png", NULL);
+  path   = g_build_filename (base_dir, "256x256/apps/gimp.png", NULL);
+  pixbuf = gdk_pixbuf_new_from_file (DATAROOTDIR "/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/gimp.png", NULL);
   if (pixbuf)
     icons = g_list_prepend (icons, pixbuf);
   else
-    g_warning ("Application icon missing: %s", DATADIR "/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/gimp.png");
+    g_warning ("Application icon missing: %s", path);
+  g_free (path);
 
   gtk_window_set_default_icon_list (icons);
   g_list_free_full (icons, g_object_unref);
@@ -156,6 +175,7 @@ gimp_widgets_init (GimpHelpFunc          standard_help_func,
   gimp_widgets_init_foreign_enums ();
 
   gimp_widgets_initialized = TRUE;
+  g_free (base_dir);
 }
 
 /* clean up babl (in particular, so that the fish cache is constructed) if the
diff --git a/libgimpwidgets/meson.build b/libgimpwidgets/meson.build
index 3cf15959c8..488ce7ad5f 100644
--- a/libgimpwidgets/meson.build
+++ b/libgimpwidgets/meson.build
@@ -189,9 +189,7 @@ libgimpwidgets = library('gimpwidgets-'+ gimp_api_version,
   dependencies: [
     gegl, gtk3, lcms, math
   ],
-  c_args: [ '-DG_LOG_DOMAIN="LibGimpWidgets"', '-DGIMP_WIDGETS_COMPILATION',
-            '-DDATADIR="@0@"'.format(prefix / get_option('datadir')),
-  ],
+  c_args: [ '-DG_LOG_DOMAIN="LibGimpWidgets"', '-DGIMP_WIDGETS_COMPILATION', ],
   link_with: [
     libgimpbase,
     libgimpcolor,