diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d191985b..3cd9fc61 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -34,7 +34,13 @@
 
 
 ## Unreleased
+
 ### Added
+
+* `-Dthemes=false|true` meson command line option. When disabled,
+  example theme files are **not** installed.
+
+
 ### Changed
 ### Deprecated
 ### Removed
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 5dd99652..9037f4a8 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -240,10 +240,13 @@ if scdoc.found()
     'LICENSE', 'README.md', 'CHANGELOG.md',
     install_dir: join_paths(get_option('datadir'), 'doc', 'foot'))
   install_data('foot.ini', install_dir: join_paths(get_option('datadir'), 'foot'))
-  install_subdir('themes', install_dir: join_paths(get_option('datadir'), 'foot'))
   subdir('doc')
 endif
 
+if get_option('themes')
+  install_subdir('themes', install_dir: join_paths(get_option('datadir'), 'foot'))
+endif
+
 tic = find_program('tic', native: true, required: get_option('terminfo'))
 if tic.found()
   conf_data = configuration_data(
@@ -273,6 +276,7 @@ subdir('icons')
 summary(
   {
     'Documentation': scdoc.found(),
+    'Themes': get_option('themes'),
     'IME': get_option('ime'),
     'Grapheme clustering': utf8proc.found(),
     'Build terminfo': tic.found(),
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index b47cfc7b..ccc7d5a1 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 option('docs', type: 'feature',
        description: 'Build and install documentation (man pages, example foot.ini, readme, changelog, license etc).')
 
+option('themes', type: 'boolean', value: true,
+       description: 'Install themes (predefined color schemes)')
+
 option('ime', type: 'boolean', value: true,
        description: 'IME (Input Method Editor) support')