diff -Nuar a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
--- a/configure.ac	2019-09-18 16:05:00.000000000 +0300
+++ b/configure.ac	2020-02-19 10:35:23.874694686 +0300
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 AC_PREREQ(2.59)
 AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])
 
+m4_define(gdk-pixbuf_minver, 2.36.5)
 m4_define(eom_major_version, 1)
 m4_define(eom_minor_version, 22)
 m4_define(eom_micro_version, 2)
@@ -26,6 +27,7 @@
 
 AM_MAINTAINER_MODE
 
+AC_SUBST(GDKPIXBUF_REQUIRED, [gdk-pixbuf_minver])
 MATE_COMMON_INIT
 MATE_MAINTAINER_MODE_DEFINES
 MATE_COMPILE_WARNINGS
@@ -96,6 +98,7 @@
 
 PKG_CHECK_MODULES(GMODULE, gmodule-2.0, [GMODULE_ADD="gmodule-2.0"],[GMODULE_ADD=""])
 EOM_MODULES="gtk+-3.0 >= $GTK_REQUIRED \
+             gdk-pixbuf-2.0 >= gdk-pixbuf_minver
              glib-2.0 >= $GLIB_REQUIRED \
              $GMODULE_ADD \
              gio-2.0 >= $GLIB_REQUIRED \
diff -Nuar a/src/eom-thumbnail.c b/src/eom-thumbnail.c
--- a/src/eom-thumbnail.c	2019-09-18 16:05:00.000000000 +0300
+++ b/src/eom-thumbnail.c	2020-02-19 10:42:44.560728013 +0300
@@ -123,9 +123,10 @@
 
 	perc = CLAMP (128.0/(MAX (width, height)), 0, 1);
 
-	thumb = mate_desktop_thumbnail_scale_down_pixbuf (pixbuf,
+	thumb = gdk_pixbuf_scale_simple (pixbuf,
 							   width*perc,
-							   height*perc);
+							   height*perc,
+							   GDK_INTERP_HYPER);
 
 	return thumb;
 }
@@ -444,7 +445,7 @@
 		width  = MAX (width  * factor, 1);
 		height = MAX (height * factor, 1);
 
-		result_pixbuf = mate_desktop_thumbnail_scale_down_pixbuf (thumbnail, width, height);
+		result_pixbuf = gdk_pixbuf_scale_simple (thumbnail, width, height, GDK_INTERP_HYPER);
 
 		return result_pixbuf;
 	}