diff --git a/Kconfig.host b/Kconfig.host
index 2ee71578f3..f496475f8e 100644
--- a/Kconfig.host
+++ b/Kconfig.host
@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@ config OPENGL
 config X11
     bool
 
+config PIXMAN
+    bool
+
 config SPICE
     bool
 
diff --git a/include/ui/qemu-pixman.h b/include/ui/qemu-pixman.h
index e587c48b1f..d37feb5e3c 100644
--- a/include/ui/qemu-pixman.h
+++ b/include/ui/qemu-pixman.h
@@ -6,11 +6,13 @@
 #ifndef QEMU_PIXMAN_H
 #define QEMU_PIXMAN_H
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_PIXMAN
 /* pixman-0.16.0 headers have a redundant declaration */
 #pragma GCC diagnostic push
 #pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wredundant-decls"
 #include <pixman.h>
 #pragma GCC diagnostic pop
+#endif
 
 /*
  * pixman image formats are defined to be native endian,
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 51a51075db..505cc591b9 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -813,10 +813,14 @@ if 'ust' in get_option('trace_backends')
                      method: 'pkg-config')
 endif
 pixman = not_found
-if have_system or have_tools
-  pixman = dependency('pixman-1', required: have_system, version:'>=0.21.8',
+if not get_option('pixman').auto() or have_system or have_tools
+  pixman = dependency('pixman-1', required: get_option('pixman'), version:'>=0.21.8',
                       method: 'pkg-config')
 endif
+if not pixman.found() and (have_system or have_tools)
+  error('FIXME: pixman is currently required')
+endif
+
 zlib = dependency('zlib', required: true)
 
 libaio = not_found
@@ -2149,6 +2153,7 @@ config_host_data.set('CONFIG_SECCOMP', seccomp.found())
 if seccomp.found()
   config_host_data.set('CONFIG_SECCOMP_SYSRAWRC', seccomp_has_sysrawrc)
 endif
+config_host_data.set('CONFIG_PIXMAN', pixman.found())
 config_host_data.set('CONFIG_SNAPPY', snappy.found())
 config_host_data.set('CONFIG_SOLARIS', targetos == 'sunos')
 if get_option('tcg').allowed()
@@ -2868,6 +2873,7 @@ have_ivshmem = config_host_data.get('CONFIG_EVENTFD')
 host_kconfig = \
   (get_option('fuzzing') ? ['CONFIG_FUZZ=y'] : []) + \
   (have_tpm ? ['CONFIG_TPM=y'] : []) + \
+  (pixman.found() ? ['CONFIG_PIXMAN=y'] : []) + \
   (spice.found() ? ['CONFIG_SPICE=y'] : []) + \
   (have_ivshmem ? ['CONFIG_IVSHMEM=y'] : []) + \
   (opengl.found() ? ['CONFIG_OPENGL=y'] : []) + \
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index 5c212fcd45..c9baeda639 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -226,6 +226,8 @@ option('l2tpv3', type : 'feature', value : 'auto',
        description: 'l2tpv3 network backend support')
 option('netmap', type : 'feature', value : 'auto',
        description: 'netmap network backend support')
+option('pixman', type : 'feature', value : 'auto',
+       description: 'pixman support')
 option('slirp', type: 'feature', value: 'auto',
        description: 'libslirp user mode network backend support')
 option('vde', type : 'feature', value : 'auto',
diff --git a/scripts/meson-buildoptions.sh b/scripts/meson-buildoptions.sh
index e9d6d39279..680fa3f581 100644
--- a/scripts/meson-buildoptions.sh
+++ b/scripts/meson-buildoptions.sh
@@ -160,6 +160,7 @@ meson_options_help() {
   printf "%s\n" '  pa              PulseAudio sound support'
   printf "%s\n" '  parallels       parallels image format support'
   printf "%s\n" '  pipewire        PipeWire sound support'
+  printf "%s\n" '  pixman          pixman support'
   printf "%s\n" '  plugins         TCG plugins via shared library loading'
   printf "%s\n" '  png             PNG support with libpng'
   printf "%s\n" '  pvrdma          Enable PVRDMA support'
@@ -419,6 +420,8 @@ _meson_option_parse() {
     --disable-parallels) printf "%s" -Dparallels=disabled ;;
     --enable-pipewire) printf "%s" -Dpipewire=enabled ;;
     --disable-pipewire) printf "%s" -Dpipewire=disabled ;;
+    --enable-pixman) printf "%s" -Dpixman=enabled ;;
+    --disable-pixman) printf "%s" -Dpixman=disabled ;;
     --with-pkgversion=*) quote_sh "-Dpkgversion=$2" ;;
     --enable-plugins) printf "%s" -Dplugins=true ;;
     --disable-plugins) printf "%s" -Dplugins=false ;;