diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index 9486d4a0a..4b186fa19 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -16,6 +16,9 @@ To update |kitty|, :doc:`follow the instructions <binary>`.
 
 - Adjust cell height automatically for buggy fonts that draw brackets outside the bounding box
 
+- Fix image leaving behind a black rectangle when switch away and back to
+  alternate screen (:iss:`2901`)
+
 
 0.18.2 [2020-07-28]
 --------------------
diff --git a/kitty/graphics.c b/kitty/graphics.c
index 809d868b8..2150d2c82 100644
--- a/kitty/graphics.c
+++ b/kitty/graphics.c
@@ -646,7 +646,7 @@ grman_update_layers(GraphicsManager *self, unsigned int scrolled_by, float scree
 
 static inline void
 filter_refs(GraphicsManager *self, const void* data, bool free_images, bool (*filter_func)(ImageRef*, Image*, const void*, CellPixelSize), CellPixelSize cell) {
-    self->layers_dirty = self->image_count > 0;
+    if (self->image_count) self->layers_dirty = true;
     for (size_t i = self->image_count; i-- > 0;) {
         Image *img = self->images + i;
         for (size_t j = img->refcnt; j-- > 0;) {