diff --git a/libi3/font.c b/libi3/font.c
index 8bdf3d60..e14bb080 100644
--- a/libi3/font.c
+++ b/libi3/font.c
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ static xcb_visualtype_t *root_visual_type;
 static double pango_font_red;
 static double pango_font_green;
 static double pango_font_blue;
+static double pango_font_alpha;
 
 /* Necessary to track whether the dpi changes and trigger a LOG() message,
  * which is more easily visible to users. */
@@ -123,7 +124,8 @@ static void draw_text_pango(const char *text, size_t text_len,
         pango_layout_set_text(layout, text, text_len);
 
     /* Do the drawing */
-    cairo_set_source_rgb(cr, pango_font_red, pango_font_green, pango_font_blue);
+    cairo_set_source_rgba(cr, pango_font_red, pango_font_green, pango_font_blue, pango_font_alpha);
+    cairo_set_operator(cr, CAIRO_OPERATOR_SOURCE);
     pango_cairo_update_layout(cr, layout);
     pango_layout_get_pixel_size(layout, NULL, &height);
     /* Center the piece of text vertically if its height is smaller than the
@@ -332,6 +334,7 @@ void set_font_colors(xcb_gcontext_t gc, uint32_t foreground, uint32_t background
             pango_font_red = ((foreground >> 16) & 0xff) / 255.0;
             pango_font_green = ((foreground >> 8) & 0xff) / 255.0;
             pango_font_blue = (foreground & 0xff) / 255.0;
+            pango_font_alpha = ((foreground >> 24) & 0xff) / 255.0;
             break;
 #endif
         default:
diff --git a/libi3/get_colorpixel.c b/libi3/get_colorpixel.c
index 44ad295d..3a62a8e4 100644
--- a/libi3/get_colorpixel.c
+++ b/libi3/get_colorpixel.c
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
  */
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <stdint.h>
+#include <string.h>
 
 #include "libi3.h"
 
@@ -25,14 +26,23 @@
  *
  */
 uint32_t get_colorpixel(const char *hex) {
-    char strgroups[3][3] = {{hex[1], hex[2], '\0'},
-                            {hex[3], hex[4], '\0'},
-                            {hex[5], hex[6], '\0'}};
+    char alpha[2];
+    if (strlen(hex) == strlen("#rrggbbaa")) {
+        alpha[0] = hex[7];
+        alpha[1] = hex[8];
+    } else {
+        alpha[0] = alpha[1] = 'F';
+    }
+
+    char strgroups[4][3] = {
+        {hex[1], hex[2], '\0'},
+        {hex[3], hex[4], '\0'},
+        {hex[5], hex[6], '\0'},
+        {alpha[0], alpha[1], '\0'}};
     uint8_t r = strtol(strgroups[0], NULL, 16);
     uint8_t g = strtol(strgroups[1], NULL, 16);
     uint8_t b = strtol(strgroups[2], NULL, 16);
+    uint8_t a = strtol(strgroups[3], NULL, 16);
 
-    /* We set the first 8 bits high to have 100% opacity in case of a 32 bit
-     * color depth visual. */
-    return (0xFF << 24) | (r << 16 | g << 8 | b);
+    return (a << 24) | (r << 16 | g << 8 | b);
 }