matplotlib · rcomer · May 23, 2026 · May 23, 2026 · May 25, 2026 · May 23, 2026
diff --git a/.appveyor.yml b/.appveyor.yml
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ environment:
                  --cov-report= --cov=lib --log-level=DEBUG
 
   matrix:
-    - PYTHON_VERSION: "3.11"
+    - PYTHON_VERSION: "3.12"
 
 # We always use a 64-bit machine, but can build x86 distributions
 # with the PYTHON_ARCH variable

diff --git a/.github/workflows/cibuildwheel.yml b/.github/workflows/cibuildwheel.yml
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ jobs:
       - uses: actions/setup-python@a309ff8b426b58ec0e2a45f0f869d46889d02405  # v6.2.0
         name: Install Python
         with:
-          python-version: '3.11'
+          python-version: '3.12'
 
       # Something changed somewhere that prevents the downloaded-at-build-time
       # licenses from being included in built wheels, so pre-download them so
@@ -176,24 +176,6 @@ jobs:
           CIBW_BUILD: "cp312-*"
           CIBW_ARCHS: ${{ matrix.cibw_archs }}
 
-      - name: Build wheels for CPython 3.11
-        uses: pypa/cibuildwheel@8d2b08b68458a16aeb24b64e68a09ab1c8e82084  # v3.4.1
-        with:
-          package-dir: dist/${{ needs.build_sdist.outputs.SDIST_NAME }}
-        env:
-          CIBW_BUILD: "cp311-*"
-          CIBW_ARCHS: ${{ matrix.cibw_archs }}
-
-      - name: Build wheels for PyPy
-        uses: pypa/cibuildwheel@8d2b08b68458a16aeb24b64e68a09ab1c8e82084  # v3.4.1
-        with:
-          package-dir: dist/${{ needs.build_sdist.outputs.SDIST_NAME }}
-        env:
-          CIBW_BUILD: "pp311-*"
-          CIBW_ARCHS: ${{ matrix.cibw_archs }}
-          CIBW_ENABLE: pypy
-        if: matrix.cibw_archs != 'aarch64' && matrix.os != 'windows-latest' && matrix.os != 'windows-11-arm'
-
       - uses: actions/upload-artifact@043fb46d1a93c77aae656e7c1c64a875d1fc6a0a  # v7.0.1
         with:
           name: cibw-wheels-${{ runner.os }}-${{ matrix.cibw_archs }}

diff --git a/.github/workflows/cygwin.yml b/.github/workflows/cygwin.yml
@@ -186,10 +186,6 @@ jobs:
              python -c 'import PyQt5.QtCore' &&
              echo 'PyQt5 is available' ||
              echo 'PyQt5 is not available'
-          python -mpip install --upgrade pyside2 &&
-              python -c 'import PySide2.QtCore' &&
-              echo 'PySide2 is available' ||
-              echo 'PySide2 is not available'
           python -m pip uninstall --yes wxpython || echo 'wxPython already uninstalled'
 
       - name: Install Matplotlib

diff --git a/.github/workflows/linting.yml b/.github/workflows/linting.yml
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Set up Python 3
         uses: actions/setup-python@a309ff8b426b58ec0e2a45f0f869d46889d02405  # v6.2.0
         with:
-          python-version: '3.11'
+          python-version: '3.12'
 
       - name: Install ruff
         run: pip3 install ruff
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Set up Python 3
         uses: actions/setup-python@a309ff8b426b58ec0e2a45f0f869d46889d02405  # v6.2.0
         with:
-          python-version: '3.11'
+          python-version: '3.12'
 
       - name: Install mypy
         run: pip3 install --group build --group typing

diff --git a/.github/workflows/mypy-stubtest.yml b/.github/workflows/mypy-stubtest.yml
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Set up Python 3
         uses: actions/setup-python@a309ff8b426b58ec0e2a45f0f869d46889d02405  # v6.2.0
         with:
-          python-version: '3.11'
+          python-version: '3.12'
 
       - name: Set up reviewdog
         uses: reviewdog/action-setup@d8a7baabd7f3e8544ee4dbde3ee41d0011c3a93f  # v1.5.0
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           set -o pipefail
           tox -e stubtest | \
-              sed -e "s!.tox/stubtest/lib/python3.11/site-packages!lib!g" | \
+              sed -e "s!.tox/stubtest/lib/python3.12/site-packages!lib!g" | \
               reviewdog \
                 -efm '%Eerror: %m' \
                 -efm '%CStub: in file %f:%l' \

diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests.yml b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
@@ -51,13 +51,13 @@ jobs:
         include:
           - name-suffix: "(Minimum Versions)"
             os: ubuntu-22.04
-            python-version: '3.11'
+            python-version: '3.12'
             extra-requirements: '-c ci/minver-requirements.txt'
             delete-font-cache: true
             # https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/issues/29844
             pygobject-ver: '<3.52.0'
           - os: ubuntu-22.04
-            python-version: '3.11'
+            python-version: '3.12'
             CFLAGS: "-fno-lto"  # Ensure that disabling LTO works.
             extra-requirements: '--group test-extra'
             # https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/issues/29844
@@ -73,16 +73,10 @@ jobs:
             python-version: '3.13t'
             # https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/issues/29844
             pygobject-ver: '<3.52.0'
-          - os: ubuntu-24.04
-            python-version: '3.12'
           - os: ubuntu-24.04
             python-version: '3.14'
           - os: ubuntu-24.04-arm
             python-version: '3.12'
-          - os: macos-14  # This runner is on M1 (arm64) chips.
-            python-version: '3.11'
-            # https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/issues/29732
-            pygobject-ver: '<3.52.0'
           - os: macos-14  # This runner is on M1 (arm64) chips.
             python-version: '3.12'
             # https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/issues/29732
@@ -267,16 +261,6 @@ jobs:
               echo 'PyQt5 is available' ||
               echo 'PyQt5 is not available'
           fi
-          # Even though PySide2 wheels can be installed on Python 3.12+, they are broken and since PySide2 is
-          # deprecated, they are unlikely to be fixed. For the same deprecation reason, there are no wheels
-          # on M1 macOS, so don't bother there either.
-          if [[ "${{ matrix.os }}" != 'macos-14' && "${{ matrix.python-version }}" == '3.11'
-                ]]; then
-            python -mpip install --upgrade pyside2 &&
-              python -c 'import PySide2.QtCore' &&
-              echo 'PySide2 is available' ||
-              echo 'PySide2 is not available'
-          fi
           python -mpip install --upgrade --only-binary :all: pyqt6 &&
             python -c 'import PyQt6.QtCore' &&
             echo 'PyQt6 is available' ||

diff --git a/azure-pipelines.yml b/azure-pipelines.yml
@@ -49,11 +49,8 @@ stages:
       - job: Pytest
         strategy:
           matrix:
-            Windows_py311:
-              vmImage: 'windows-2022'  # Keep one job pinned to the oldest image
-              python.version: '3.11'
             Windows_py312:
-              vmImage: 'windows-latest'
+              vmImage: 'windows-2022'  # Keep one job pinned to the oldest image
               python.version: '3.12'
             Windows_py313:
               vmImage: 'windows-latest'

diff --git a/ci/minver-requirements.txt b/ci/minver-requirements.txt
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 # Extra pip requirements for the minimum-version CI run
 
-contourpy==1.0.1
+contourpy==1.2.1
 cycler==0.10
 fonttools==4.22.0
 importlib-resources==3.2.0
 kiwisolver==1.3.2
 meson-python==0.13.2
 meson==1.1.0
-numpy==1.25.0
+numpy==2.0.0
 packaging==20.0
 pillow==9.0.1
 pyparsing==3.0.0

diff --git a/doc/api/backend_qt_api.rst b/doc/api/backend_qt_api.rst
@@ -22,10 +22,9 @@ a dependency to building the docs.
 Qt Bindings
 -----------
 
-There are currently 2 actively supported Qt versions, Qt5 and Qt6, and two
-supported Python bindings per version -- `PyQt5
-<https://www.riverbankcomputing.com/static/Docs/PyQt5/>`_ and `PySide2
-<https://doc.qt.io/qtforpython-5/contents.html>`_ for Qt5 and `PyQt6
+There are currently 2 actively supported Qt versions, Qt5 and Qt6. `PyQt5
+<https://www.riverbankcomputing.com/static/Docs/PyQt5/>`_ is the supported
+Python binding for Qt5 and there are both `PyQt6
 <https://www.riverbankcomputing.com/static/Docs/PyQt6/>`_ and `PySide6
 <https://doc.qt.io/qtforpython/contents.html>`_ for Qt6 [#]_.  Matplotlib's
 qtagg and qtcairo backends (``matplotlib.backends.backend_qtagg`` and
@@ -35,13 +34,12 @@ parts factored out in the ``matplotlib.backends.backend_qt`` module.
 At runtime, these backends select the actual binding used as follows:
 
 1. If a binding's ``QtCore`` subpackage is already imported, that binding is
-   selected (the order for the check is ``PyQt6``, ``PySide6``, ``PyQt5``,
-   ``PySide2``).
+   selected (the order for the check is ``PyQt6``, ``PySide6``, ``PyQt5``).
 2. If the :envvar:`QT_API` environment variable is set to one of "PyQt6",
-   "PySide6", "PyQt5", "PySide2" (case-insensitive), that binding is selected.
+   "PySide6", "PyQt5" (case-insensitive), that binding is selected.
    (See also the documentation on :ref:`environment-variables`.)
 3. Otherwise, the first available backend in the order ``PyQt6``, ``PySide6``,
-   ``PyQt5``, ``PySide2`` is selected.
+   ``PyQt5`` is selected.
 
 In the past, Matplotlib used to have separate backends for each version of Qt
 (e.g. qt4agg/``matplotlib.backends.backend_qt4agg`` and
@@ -62,8 +60,9 @@ change without warning [#]_.
 
 .. [#] There is also `PyQt4
        <https://www.riverbankcomputing.com/static/Docs/PyQt4/>`_ and `PySide
-       <https://srinikom.github.io/pyside-docs/>`_ for Qt4 but these are no
-       longer supported by Matplotlib and upstream support for Qt4 ended
+       <https://srinikom.github.io/pyside-docs/>`_ for Qt4 and `PySide2
+       <https://doc.qt.io/qtforpython-5/contents.html>`_ for Qt5 but these are
+       no longer supported by Matplotlib. Upstream support for Qt4 ended
        in 2015.
 .. [#] Despite the slight API differences, the more important distinction
        between the PyQt and Qt for Python series of bindings is licensing.

diff --git a/doc/api/next_api_changes/deprecations/XXXXX_REC.rst b/doc/api/next_api_changes/deprecations/XXXXX_REC.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+Direct modification of ``(Sub)Figure`` artist lists
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Previously it was possible to modify the ``artists``, ``images``, ``lines``,
+``legends``, ``patches`` and ``texts`` attributes of `.Figure` and `.SubFigure`
+instances using standard `list` functionality.  This is now deprecated.
+Instead use `~.Figure.add_artist` to add an artist to the figure, or use the
+artist's `remove` method to remove it.
diff --git a/doc/devel/min_dep_policy.rst b/doc/devel/min_dep_policy.rst
@@ -115,6 +115,7 @@ specification of the dependencies.
 ==========  ========  ======
 Matplotlib  Python    NumPy
 ==========  ========  ======
+3.12        3.12      2.0.0
 3.11        3.11      1.25.0
 `3.10`_     3.10      1.23.0
 `3.9`_      3.9       1.23.0

diff --git a/doc/devel/testing.rst b/doc/devel/testing.rst
@@ -331,7 +331,7 @@ You can also run tox on a subset of environments:
 
 .. code-block:: bash
 
-    $ tox -e py310,py311
+    $ tox -e py312,py314
 
 Tox processes environments sequentially by default,
 which can be slow when testing multiple environments.

diff --git a/doc/install/dependencies.rst b/doc/install/dependencies.rst
@@ -20,13 +20,13 @@ When installing through a package manager like ``pip`` or ``conda``, the
 mandatory dependencies are automatically installed. This list is mainly for
 reference.
 
-* `Python <https://www.python.org/downloads/>`_ (>= 3.11)
-* `contourpy <https://pypi.org/project/contourpy/>`_ (>= 1.0.1)
+* `Python <https://www.python.org/downloads/>`_ (>= 3.12)
+* `contourpy <https://pypi.org/project/contourpy/>`_ (>= 1.2.1)
 * `cycler <https://matplotlib.org/cycler/>`_ (>= 0.10.0)
 * `dateutil <https://pypi.org/project/python-dateutil/>`_ (>= 2.7)
 * `fontTools <https://fonttools.readthedocs.io/en/latest/>`_ (>= 4.22.0)
 * `kiwisolver <https://github.com/nucleic/kiwi>`_ (>= 1.3.1)
-* `NumPy <https://numpy.org>`_ (>= 1.25)
+* `NumPy <https://numpy.org>`_ (>= 2.0)
 * `packaging <https://pypi.org/project/packaging/>`_ (>= 20.0)
 * `Pillow <https://pillow.readthedocs.io/en/latest/>`_ (>= 9.0)
 * `pyparsing <https://pypi.org/project/pyparsing/>`_ (>= 3)
@@ -62,8 +62,7 @@ and the capabilities they provide.
 * Tk_ (>= 8.5, != 8.6.0 or 8.6.1): for the Tk-based backends. Tk is part of
   most standard Python installations, but it's not part of Python itself and
   thus may not be present in rare cases.
-* PyQt6_ (>= 6.1), PySide6_, PyQt5_ (>= 5.12), or PySide2_: for the Qt-based
-  backends.
+* PyQt6_ (>= 6.1), PySide6_, or PyQt5_ (>= 5.12): for the Qt-based backends.
 * PyGObject_ and pycairo_ (>= 1.14.0): for the GTK-based backends. If using pip
   (but not conda or system package manager) PyGObject must be built from
   source; see `pygobject documentation
@@ -78,7 +77,6 @@ and the capabilities they provide.
 
 .. _Tk: https://docs.python.org/3/library/tk.html
 .. _PyQt5: https://pypi.org/project/PyQt5/
-.. _PySide2: https://pypi.org/project/PySide2/
 .. _PyQt6: https://pypi.org/project/PyQt6/
 .. _PySide6: https://pypi.org/project/PySide6/
 .. _PyGObject: https://pygobject.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

diff --git a/environment.yml b/environment.yml
@@ -13,20 +13,20 @@ dependencies:
   - cairocffi
   - c-compiler
   - cxx-compiler
-  - contourpy>=1.0.1
+  - contourpy>=1.2.1
   - cycler>=0.10.0
   - fonttools>=4.22.0
   - importlib-resources>=3.2.0
   - kiwisolver>=1.3.1
   - pybind11>=2.13.2
   - meson-python>=0.13.1
-  - numpy>=1.25
+  - numpy>=2.0
   - pillow>=9
   - pkg-config
   - pygobject
   - pyparsing>=3
   - pyqt
-  - python>=3.11
+  - python>=3.12
   - python-dateutil>=2.1
   - setuptools_scm<10
   - wxpython

diff --git a/galleries/examples/units/basic_units.py b/galleries/examples/units/basic_units.py
@@ -18,8 +18,6 @@
 import itertools
 import math
 
-from packaging.version import parse as parse_version
-
 import numpy as np
 
 import matplotlib.ticker as ticker
@@ -170,9 +168,8 @@ def __str__(self):
     def __len__(self):
         return len(self.value)
 
-    if parse_version(np.__version__) >= parse_version('1.20'):
-        def __getitem__(self, key):
-            return TaggedValue(self.value[key], self.unit)
+    def __getitem__(self, key):
+        return TaggedValue(self.value[key], self.unit)
 
     def __iter__(self):
         # Return a generator expression rather than use `yield`, so that

diff --git a/galleries/examples/user_interfaces/embedding_in_qt_sgskip.py b/galleries/examples/user_interfaces/embedding_in_qt_sgskip.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 ===========
 
 Simple Qt application embedding Matplotlib canvases.  This program will work
-equally well using any Qt binding (PyQt6, PySide6, PyQt5, PySide2).  The
+equally well using any Qt binding (PyQt6, PySide6, PyQt5).  The
 binding can be selected by setting the :envvar:`QT_API` environment variable to
 the binding name, or by first importing it.
 """

diff --git a/galleries/examples/user_interfaces/mplcvd.py b/galleries/examples/user_interfaces/mplcvd.py
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ def setup(figure):
             break
     if pkg == "gi":
         _setup_gtk(tb)
-    elif pkg in ("PyQt5", "PySide2", "PyQt6", "PySide6"):
+    elif pkg in ("PyQt5", "PyQt6", "PySide6"):
         _setup_qt(tb)
     elif pkg == "tkinter":
         _setup_tk(tb)

diff --git a/galleries/tutorials/artists.py b/galleries/tutorials/artists.py
@@ -314,24 +314,26 @@ class in the Matplotlib API, and the one you will be working with most
 #
 #
 # The figure also has its own ``images``, ``lines``, ``patches`` and ``text``
-# attributes, which you can use to add primitives directly. When doing so, the
-# default coordinate system for the ``Figure`` will simply be in pixels (which
-# is not usually what you want). If you instead use Figure-level methods to add
-# Artists (e.g., using `.Figure.text` to add text), then the default coordinate
-# system will be "figure coordinates" where (0, 0) is the bottom-left of the
-# figure and (1, 1) is the top-right of the figure.
-#
-# As with all ``Artist``\s, you can control this coordinate system by setting
-# the transform property. You can explicitly use "figure coordinates" by
-# setting the ``Artist`` transform to :attr:`!fig.transFigure`:
+# attributes, which you can use to access any primitives that are its direct
+# children. Adding images and text is usually achieved with the
+# `~.Figure.figimage` and `~.Figure.text` methods.  Other artists may be added
+# with the `~.Figure.add_artist` method.
+#
+# As with all ``Artist``\s, you can control the coordinate system by setting
+# the transform property (see :ref:`transforms_tutorial`). When using
+# `~.Figure.figimage`, the default coordinate system is simply pixels.  When
+# using `~.Figure.text` or `~.Figure.add_artist`, the default coordinate system
+# will be "figure coordinates" where (0, 0) is the bottom-left of the figure
+# and (1, 1) is the top-right of the figure.
 
 import matplotlib.lines as lines
 
 fig = plt.figure()
 
-l1 = lines.Line2D([0, 1], [0, 1], transform=fig.transFigure, figure=fig)
-l2 = lines.Line2D([0, 1], [1, 0], transform=fig.transFigure, figure=fig)
-fig.lines.extend([l1, l2])
+line1 = lines.Line2D([0, 1], [0, 1])
+line2 = lines.Line2D([0, 1], [1, 0])
+for line in line1, line2:
+    fig.add_artist(line)
 
 plt.show()
 
@@ -342,16 +344,18 @@ class in the Matplotlib API, and the one you will be working with most
 # Figure attribute Description
 # ================ ============================================================
 # axes             A list of `~.axes.Axes` instances
+# subfigures       A list of `.SubFigure` instances
 # patch            The `.Rectangle` background
-# images           A list of `.FigureImage` patches -
+# images           An `.ArtistList` of `.FigureImage` patches -
 #                  useful for raw pixel display
-# legends          A list of Figure `.Legend` instances
+# legends          An `.ArtistList` of Figure `.Legend` instances
 #                  (different from ``Axes.get_legend()``)
-# lines            A list of Figure `.Line2D` instances
+# lines            An `.ArtistList` of Figure `.Line2D` instances
 #                  (rarely used, see ``Axes.lines``)
-# patches          A list of Figure `.Patch`\s
+# patches          An `.ArtistList` of Figure `.Patch`\s
 #                  (rarely used, see ``Axes.patches``)
-# texts            A list Figure `.Text` instances
+# texts            An `.ArtistList` of Figure `.Text` instances
+# artists          An `.ArtistList` of all other `.Artist` instances
 # ================ ============================================================
 #
 # .. _axes-container: