diff --git a/Pinta.Core/HistoryItems/SwapLayersHistoryItem.cs b/Pinta.Core/HistoryItems/SwapLayersHistoryItem.cs
index f46e043cd6..e0e6090c0b 100644
--- a/Pinta.Core/HistoryItems/SwapLayersHistoryItem.cs
+++ b/Pinta.Core/HistoryItems/SwapLayersHistoryItem.cs
@@ -1,21 +1,21 @@
-// 
+//
 // SwapLayersHistoryItem.cs
-//  
+//
 // Author:
 //       Jonathan Pobst <monkey@jpobst.com>
-// 
+//
 // Copyright (c) 2010 Jonathan Pobst
-// 
+//
 // Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
 // of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
 // in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
 // to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
 // copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
 // furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
-// 
+//
 // The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
 // all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
-// 
+//
 // THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
 // IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
 // FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
@@ -63,11 +63,13 @@ private void Swap ()
 		UserLayer layer1 = doc.Layers[l1];
 		UserLayer layer2 = doc.Layers[l2];
 
+		// Note we shift one layer at a time to ensure the document doesn't temporarily
+		// end up in an invalid state with no layers.
 		doc.Layers.DeleteLayer (l1);
-		doc.Layers.DeleteLayer (l2 - 1);
+		doc.Layers.Insert (layer1, l2 - 1);
 
+		doc.Layers.DeleteLayer (l2);
 		doc.Layers.Insert (layer2, l1);
-		doc.Layers.Insert (layer1, l2);
 
 		doc.Layers.SetCurrentUserLayer (selected);
 	}