diff --git a/lib/contextmanager.cpp b/lib/contextmanager.cpp
--- a/lib/contextmanager.cpp
+++ b/lib/contextmanager.cpp
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 #include <lib/gvdebug.h>
 #include <lib/gwenviewconfig.h>
 #include <lib/semanticinfo/sorteddirmodel.h>
+#include <lib/urlutils.h>
 
 namespace Gwenview
 {
@@ -300,8 +301,29 @@
 {
     GV_RETURN_IF_FAIL(url.isValid());
     d->mUrlToSelect = url;
-    setCurrentDirUrl(url.adjusted(QUrl::RemoveFilename));
+
     setCurrentUrl(url);
+
+    // Make sure that an url passed as command line argument is loaded
+    // and shown before a possibly long running dirlister on a slow
+    // network device is started. So start the dirlister after url is
+    // loaded or failed to load.
+    if (UrlUtils::urlIsFastLocalFile(url.adjusted(QUrl::RemoveFilename))) {
+        setCurrentDirUrl(url.adjusted(QUrl::RemoveFilename));
+    }
+    else {
+        Document::Ptr doc = DocumentFactory::instance()->getCachedDocument(url);
+        connect(doc.data(), &Document::loaded, [this, url]() {
+            setCurrentDirUrl(url.adjusted(QUrl::RemoveFilename));
+        });
+        connect(doc.data(), &Document::loadingFailed, [this, url]() {
+            setCurrentDirUrl(url.adjusted(QUrl::RemoveFilename));
+        });
+        connect(doc.data(), &Document::downSampledImageReady, [this, url]() {
+            setCurrentDirUrl(url.adjusted(QUrl::RemoveFilename));
+        });
+    }
+
     selectUrlToSelect();
 }