diff --git a/src/View/Contact.vala b/src/View/Contact.vala
index ab2a694..0f2eac0 100644
--- a/src/View/Contact.vala
+++ b/src/View/Contact.vala
@@ -52,11 +52,8 @@ namespace View {
         private signal void has_icon (bool has);
         private signal void make_bottom_section_unavailable (bool not_available);
 
-        private Granite.Widgets.Avatar icon =
-            new Granite.Widgets.Avatar.from_file (
-                Constants.DATADIR + "/avatars/64/contacts-avatar-default.svg", 64
-            );
-        private bool icon_is_set = false;
+        public Gdk.Pixbuf? default_image;
+        public Image icon_image { get; private set; default = new Image (); }
 
         private EditableTitle name_label = new EditableTitle ("");
 
@@ -132,8 +129,11 @@ namespace View {
                 );
 
             if (handler.icon != null) {
-                icon.pixbuf = handler.icon;
+                icon_image.pixbuf = handler.icon;
                 has_icon (true);
+            } else {
+                icon_image.pixbuf = default_image;
+                has_icon (false);
             }
 
             handler.contact_error.connect ((contact_error) => show_error (contact_error.message));
@@ -148,15 +148,23 @@ namespace View {
         construct {
             hscrollbar_policy = Gtk.PolicyType.NEVER;
 
+            var icon_theme = IconTheme.get_default ();
+            try {
+                default_image = icon_theme.load_icon ("avatar-default", 64, 0);
+            }
+            catch (Error err) {
+                error (err.message);
+            }
+            icon_image.pixbuf = default_image;
+
             var icon_button = new Gtk.Button ();
             icon_button.set_tooltip_text (_("Change the icon"));
             icon_button.get_style_context ().add_class ("flat");
-            icon_button.add (icon);
+            icon_button.add (icon_image);
 
             var popup = new IconPopup (icon_button);
             has_icon.connect ((has) => {
                 popup.can_delete = has;
-                icon_is_set = has;
             });
 
             popup.change_image.connect (() => {
@@ -166,6 +174,11 @@ namespace View {
                     print ("You canceled the operation\n");
                 }
             });
+            popup.remove_image.connect (() => {
+                handler.icon = null;
+                icon_image.pixbuf = default_image;
+                has_icon (false);
+            });
 
             var title_box = new Gtk.Box (Gtk.Orientation.HORIZONTAL, 12);
             title_box.pack_start (icon_button, false, false, 0);
@@ -284,7 +297,7 @@ namespace View {
         public void set_image_path (string path) {
             try {
                 handler.icon = new Gdk.Pixbuf.from_file_at_scale (path, 64, 64, true);
-                icon.pixbuf = handler.icon;
+                icon_image.pixbuf = handler.icon;
                 has_icon (true);
             } catch (Error e) {
                 error (e.message);
diff --git a/src/View/Widgets/SidebarRow.vala b/src/View/Widgets/SidebarRow.vala
index cc032f0..c2e84e0 100644
--- a/src/View/Widgets/SidebarRow.vala
+++ b/src/View/Widgets/SidebarRow.vala
@@ -47,11 +47,8 @@ using ViewModel;
 namespace View.Widgets {
     private class SidebarRow : Gtk.ListBoxRow {
 
-        public Avatar display_widget { get; private set;
-            default = new Granite.Widgets.Avatar.from_file (
-                Constants.DATADIR + "/avatars/32/contacts-avatar-default.svg", 32
-            );
-        }
+        public Gdk.Pixbuf? default_image;
+        public Image icon_image { get; private set; default = new Image (); }
 
         public string? header { get; set; }
 
@@ -98,7 +95,16 @@ namespace View.Widgets {
 
             var overlay = new Gtk.Overlay ();
             overlay.width_request = 38;
-            overlay.add (display_widget);
+            overlay.add (icon_image);
+
+            var icon_theme = IconTheme.get_default ();
+            try {
+                default_image = icon_theme.load_icon ("avatar-default", 32, 0);
+            }
+            catch (Error err) {
+                error (err.message);
+            }
+            icon_image.pixbuf = default_image;
 
             var grid = new Gtk.Grid ();
             grid.margin = 6;
@@ -118,12 +124,17 @@ namespace View.Widgets {
         public void on_info_changed () {
             this.title = handler.name;
 
-            if (handler.icon != null)
-                this.display_widget.pixbuf = handler.icon.scale_simple (32, 32, Gdk.InterpType.HYPER);
+            if (handler.icon != null) {
+                this.icon_image.pixbuf = handler.icon.scale_simple (32, 32, Gdk.InterpType.HYPER);
+            } else {
+                this.icon_image.pixbuf = default_image;
+            }
 
             if (handler.phones != null && handler.phones.length () != 0) {
                 var phone = handler.phones.nth_data (0).data;
                 this.status = phone.locale_to_utf8 (-1, null, null);
+            } else {
+                this.status = "";
             }
         }
     }
diff --git a/src/ViewModel/ContactHandler.vala b/src/ViewModel/ContactHandler.vala
index 08041e8..5f4b8ae 100644
--- a/src/ViewModel/ContactHandler.vala
+++ b/src/ViewModel/ContactHandler.vala
@@ -62,24 +62,25 @@ namespace ViewModel {
             }
         }
 
-        public Pixbuf icon {
+        public Pixbuf? icon {
             get {
                 return contact.icon;
             }
             set {
                 var image = value;
 
-                if (image.width < image.height) {
-                    int y = image.height / 2 - image.width / 2;
-                    image = new Gdk.Pixbuf.subpixbuf (image, 0, y, image.width, image.width);
-                } else if (image.width > image.height) {
-                    int x = image.width / 2 - image.height / 2;
-                    image = new Gdk.Pixbuf.subpixbuf (image, x, 0, image.height, image.height);
+                if (image != null) {
+                    if (image.width < image.height) {
+                        int y = image.height / 2 - image.width / 2;
+                        image = new Gdk.Pixbuf.subpixbuf (image, 0, y, image.width, image.width);
+                    } else if (image.width > image.height) {
+                        int x = image.width / 2 - image.height / 2;
+                        image = new Gdk.Pixbuf.subpixbuf (image, x, 0, image.height, image.height);
+                    }
+                    if (image.width != 64)
+                        image = image.scale_simple (64, 64, Gdk.InterpType.HYPER);
                 }
 
-                if (image.width != 64)
-                    image = image.scale_simple (64, 64, Gdk.InterpType.HYPER);
-
                 contact.icon = image;
                 changed ();
             }