diff --git a/src/silx/gui/dialog/AbstractDataFileDialog.py b/src/silx/gui/dialog/AbstractDataFileDialog.py
index 00db27509e..25dfcf5b08 100644
--- a/src/silx/gui/dialog/AbstractDataFileDialog.py
+++ b/src/silx/gui/dialog/AbstractDataFileDialog.py
@@ -641,7 +641,9 @@ def _clear(self):
         self.__browser.clear()
         self.__closeFile()
         self.__fileModel = None
-        self.__dataModel = None
+        if self.__dataModel is not None:
+            self.__dataModel.deleteLater()
+            self.__dataModel = None
 
     def hasPendingEvents(self):
         """Returns true if the dialog have asynchronous tasks working on the