diff --git a/make/svg.mk b/make/svg.mk
index 6eee03f4..16aa8124 100644
--- a/make/svg.mk
+++ b/make/svg.mk
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 SVG_GENERATE_FORMATS        ?= png svg
 SVG                         ?= $(filter-out copied-%,$(wildcard *.svg))
 COPIED_SVG                   = $(addprefix copied-,$(notdir $(SVG)))
-INKSCAPE_VERSION             = $(shell inkscape -V 2>&1 | sed '/Inkscape/ !d; s/Inkscape *\([0-9.]\+\) .*/\1/')
+INKSCAPE_VERSION             = $(shell export -n DISPLAY; inkscape -V 2>&1 | sed '/Inkscape/ !d; s/Inkscape *\([0-9.]\+\) .*/\1/')
 INKSCAPE_VERSION_MAJOR       = $(word 1,$(subst ., ,$(INKSCAPE_VERSION)))
 ifeq ($(INKSCAPE_VERSION_MAJOR),1)
   INKSCAPE_EXPORT_PNG        = --export-filename
@@ -44,11 +44,11 @@ clean.images:
 	$(RM) -f $(GENERATED_IMAGES) $(COPIED_SVG)
 
 %.png: $(COPIED_SVG)
-	inkscape -w $(shell echo $* | sed 's/.*-//') \
+	export -n DISPLAY; inkscape -w $(shell echo $* | sed 's/.*-//') \
 		$(INKSCAPE_EXPORT_PNG)=$@ copied-$(shell echo $* | sed 's/-[0-9]\+$$//').svg
 
 %.pdf: copied-%.svg
-	inkscape --export-filename="$@" $<
+	export -n DISPLAY; inkscape --export-filename="$@" $<
 
 copied-%.svg: $(SVG)
 	@echo $^