Anatomy of a Matplotlib Plot

Before diving into advanced visualizations, it’s important to understand how a typical Matplotlib plot is structured.

Each plot consists of several key components that work together to display data clearly and effectively.

• Figure: The overall canvas or container for all visual elements.
• Axes: The actual plotting area inside the figure. This includes the x-axis, y-axis, grid, and the plotted data.

In most basic plots, you’ll work with a single figure containing one set of axes.

Each plot may include:

• A title at the top (plt.title())
• Labels on the x-axis and y-axis (plt.xlabel(), plt.ylabel())
• Ticks: the numerical markers along the axes
• The data representation (line, bar, pie, etc.)
• A legend if there are multiple series
• Gridlines (optional) to improve readability

You can place more than one plot inside a single figure using subplots.

Each subplot has its own axes but shares the overall figure space.

You’ll learn more about subplots later, but for now, remember that a single figure can contain multiple axes — each representing its own plot.