diff --git a/Chart.cabal b/Chart.cabal
--- a/Chart.cabal
+++ b/Chart.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name: Chart
-Version: 0.13
+Version: 0.13.1
 License: BSD3
 License-file: LICENSE
 Copyright: Tim Docker, 2006-2009
diff --git a/Graphics/Rendering/Chart/Gtk.hs b/Graphics/Rendering/Chart/Gtk.hs
--- a/Graphics/Rendering/Chart/Gtk.hs
+++ b/Graphics/Rendering/Chart/Gtk.hs
@@ -9,37 +9,66 @@
     ) where
 
 import qualified Graphics.UI.Gtk as G
-import qualified Graphics.UI.Gtk.Gdk.Events as G
+import qualified Graphics.UI.Gtk.Gdk.Events as GE
 import qualified Graphics.Rendering.Cairo as C
 import Graphics.Rendering.Chart
 import Graphics.Rendering.Chart.Renderable
 import Graphics.Rendering.Chart.Types
 import Data.List (isPrefixOf)
+import Data.IORef
+import Control.Monad(when)
+import System.IO.Unsafe(unsafePerformIO)
 
 -- do action m for any keypress (except meta keys)
-anyKey :: (Monad m) => m a -> G.Event -> m Bool
-anyKey m (G.Key {G.eventKeyName=key})
+anyKey :: (Monad m) => m a -> GE.Event -> m Bool
+anyKey m (GE.Key {GE.eventKeyName=key})
     | any (`isPrefixOf` key) ignores = return True
     | otherwise                      = m >> return True
   where ignores = ["Shift","Control","Alt",
                    "Super","Meta","Hyper"]
 
+-- Yuck. But we really want the convenience function
+-- renderableToWindow as to be callable without requiring
+-- initGUI to be called first. But newer versions of
+-- gtk insist that initGUI is only called once
+guiInitVar :: IORef Bool
+{-# NOINLINE guiInitVar #-}
+guiInitVar = unsafePerformIO (newIORef False)
+
+initGuiOnce :: IO ()
+initGuiOnce = do
+    v <- readIORef guiInitVar
+    when (not v) $ do
+        -- G.initGUI
+        G.unsafeInitGUIForThreadedRTS
+        writeIORef guiInitVar True
+
+-- | Display a renderable in a gtk window.
+--
+-- Note that this is a convenience function that initialises GTK on
+-- it's first call, but not subsequent calls. Hence it's 
+-- unlikely to be compatible with other code using gtk. In 
+-- that case use createRenderableWindow.
 renderableToWindow :: Renderable a -> Int -> Int -> IO ()
 renderableToWindow chart windowWidth windowHeight = do
-    G.unsafeInitGUIForThreadedRTS
-    -- G.initGUI
+    initGuiOnce
+    window <- createRenderableWindow chart windowWidth windowHeight
+    -- press any key to exit the loop
+    G.onKeyPress window $ anyKey (G.widgetDestroy window)
+    G.onDestroy window G.mainQuit
+    G.widgetShowAll window
+    G.mainGUI
+
+-- | Create a new GTK window displaying a renderable.
+createRenderableWindow :: Renderable a -> Int -> Int -> IO G.Window
+createRenderableWindow chart windowWidth windowHeight = do
     window <- G.windowNew
     canvas <- G.drawingAreaNew
-    -- fix size
-    --   G.windowSetResizable window False
     G.widgetSetSizeRequest window windowWidth windowHeight
-    -- press any key to quit
-    G.onKeyPress window $ anyKey (G.widgetDestroy window)
-    G.onDestroy window G.mainQuit
     G.onExpose canvas $ const (updateCanvas chart canvas)
     G.set window [G.containerChild G.:= canvas]
-    G.widgetShowAll window
-    G.mainGUI
+    return window
+
 
 updateCanvas :: Renderable a -> G.DrawingArea  -> IO Bool
 updateCanvas chart canvas = do
diff --git a/tests/TestParametric.hs b/tests/TestParametric.hs
--- a/tests/TestParametric.hs
+++ b/tests/TestParametric.hs
@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@
            $ defaultLayout1
 
 main1 :: [String] -> IO()
-main1 ["small"]  = renderableToPNGFile (chart 0.25) 320 240 "test_parametric_small.png"
-main1 ["big"]    = renderableToPNGFile (chart 0.25) 800 600 "test_parametric_big.png"
+main1 ["small"]  = renderableToPNGFile (chart 1.00) 320 240 "test_parametric_small.png"
+main1 ["big"]    = renderableToPNGFile (chart 1.00) 800 600 "test_parametric_big.png"
 main1 _          = renderableToWindow  (chart 1.00) 640 480
 
 main = getArgs >>= main1