diff --git a/pkgs/applications/science/math/R/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/science/math/R/default.nix
index 0af9390e8c3b..eecde9e47cab 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/science/math/R/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/science/math/R/default.nix
@@ -157,6 +157,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
   + lib.optionalString stdenv.hostPlatform.isDarwin ''
     --disable-R-framework
     --without-x
+    --without-static-cairo
     OBJC="clang"
     CPPFLAGS="-isystem ${lib.getInclude stdenv.cc.libcxx}/include/c++/v1"
     LDFLAGS="-L${lib.getLib stdenv.cc.libcxx}/lib"