Advice with loading very large images and retaining smooth animation

my scenario:
creating a slide show for a desktop app (will never be deployed on the web). The resolution is HD (1920x1080) and some of the images I’m using are even larger as I’m panning them and zooming them.

my problem:
when I have an image on screen and I’m panning it or zooming it I load an image in behind it. The issue is every time the image loads in the background the image in the foreground that is moving stutters/skips for a split second and then continues on it’s way. How can I avoid this hickup/dropped frame? BTW, this is all being done with code, no timeline animations.

note the images are being turned into bitmaps

I could try to preload the images with a bulk loader, but does it make sense to preload 40 + very large images every time the slideshow is instantiated?

Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks