diff --git a/src/app/app.cpp b/src/app/app.cpp
index 55d72f2e1..014f8231b 100644
--- a/src/app/app.cpp
+++ b/src/app/app.cpp
@@ -163,6 +163,7 @@ void App::initialize(const AppOptions& options)
   m_coreModules = new CoreModules;
   m_modules = new Modules(options.verbose());
   m_legacy = new LegacyModules(isGui() ? REQUIRE_INTERFACE: 0);
+  m_brushes.reset(new AppBrushes);
 
   if (options.hasExporterParams())
     m_exporter.reset(new DocumentExporter);
@@ -673,6 +674,9 @@ App::~App()
     // Finalize modules, configuration and core.
     Editor::destroyEditorSharedInternals();
 
+    // Save brushes
+    m_brushes.reset(nullptr);
+
     delete m_legacy;
     delete m_modules;
     delete m_coreModules;
diff --git a/src/app/app.h b/src/app/app.h
index ba1ae1c65..14f3f6ed5 100644
--- a/src/app/app.h
+++ b/src/app/app.h
@@ -70,7 +70,11 @@ namespace app {
     RecentFiles* getRecentFiles() const;
     MainWindow* getMainWindow() const { return m_mainWindow; }
     Preferences& preferences() const;
-    AppBrushes& brushes() { return m_brushes; }
+
+    AppBrushes& brushes() {
+      ASSERT(m_brushes.get());
+      return *m_brushes;
+    }
 
     void showNotification(INotificationDelegate* del);
     void updateDisplayTitleBar();
@@ -97,7 +101,7 @@ namespace app {
     base::UniquePtr<MainWindow> m_mainWindow;
     FileList m_files;
     base::UniquePtr<DocumentExporter> m_exporter;
-    AppBrushes m_brushes;
+    base::UniquePtr<AppBrushes> m_brushes;
   };
 
   void app_refresh_screen();
diff --git a/src/app/app_brushes.cpp b/src/app/app_brushes.cpp
index 32efd115d..7fea3e452 100644
--- a/src/app/app_brushes.cpp
+++ b/src/app/app_brushes.cpp
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 #include "app/xml_exception.h"
 #include "base/base64.h"
 #include "base/convert_to.h"
+#include "base/fs.h"
 #include "base/path.h"
 #include "base/serialization.h"
 #include "doc/brush.h"
@@ -168,7 +169,14 @@ AppBrushes::AppBrushes()
   m_standard.push_back(BrushRef(new Brush(kSquareBrushType, 7, 0)));
   m_standard.push_back(BrushRef(new Brush(kLineBrushType, 7, 44)));
 
-  load(userBrushesFilename());
+  try {
+    std::string fn = userBrushesFilename();
+    if (base::is_file(fn))
+      load(fn);
+  }
+  catch (const std::exception& ex) {
+    LOG("Error loading user brushes: %s", ex.what());
+  }
 }
 
 AppBrushes::~AppBrushes()