Best Python Chart Examples

The Python Graph Gallery has always been a reservoir of inspiration, providing hundreds of foundational chart examples for newcomers and seasoned developers alike.

While our vast collection offers a stepping stone into the world of data visualization, the following list stands out.

Every chart here represents the pinnacle of craftsmanship, exhibiting the depths to which matplotlib can be customized. These are not just graphs; they are polished masterpieces, ready for publication.

While I'm deeply indebted to the original authors for their stellar work, it's worth noting that many of these visualizations were first conceived in R, a testament to its rich visualization ecosystem. In an endeavor to bring the best to our Python community, I've translated these gems to further showcase the versatility and power of matplotlib.

Dive in and get inspired! 😍

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Salary evolution

Minimalist black and white line chart about the salary evolution of a freelance data scientist

by Joseph Barbier

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Beyond the choropleth: a polygon map

Number of shops within a 20-minute round-trip walk

by Sebastiaan Broekema

web choropleth map with histogram square

Salary in the USA

Average salary in the USA in 2025

by Joseph Barbier

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Unemployment rate in Belgium

Breakdown and distribution of the unemployment rate in Belgium

by Koen Van den Eeckhout

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Animal adoption evolution

Waffle chart about animal adoption evolution between 2017 and 2024.

by Joseph Barbier

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Unemployment rates in the US

Combine two choropleth maps with different granularities

by Joseph Barbier

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HDI distribution in Sao Paulo

Choropleth map with a barplot

by Vinicius Oike Reginatto

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Evolution of temperature variation

Temperature change compared to the average between 1951 and 1980.

by Joseph Barbier

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Share of cereals used as animal feeds

Change in the number of storms by storm type between 2010 and 2022.

by Muhammad Azhar

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Share of cereals used as animal feeds

Breakdown by continent of the percentage of cereals used for animal feed.

by Benjamin Nowak

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Japan's population evolution

Evolution of Japan's population between 1952 and 2024.

by Joseph Barbier

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Earthquakes around the world

Repartition of earthquakes around the world, with description of extensive description and annotations.

by Joseph Barbier

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Density population in Asia

Cartogram (non-contiguous) of population density in Asia.

by Joseph Barbier

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CO2 consumption in Europe

Choropleth map of CO2 consumption per capita in Europe, with a custom legend.

by Joseph Barbier

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London recycling rates

Repartition of London recycling rates by boroughs, with small multiples of waffle charts.

by Lisa Hornung

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Evolution of natural disasters

Number of natural disasters over time per disaster type, with inflexion arrows for the legend.

by Joseph Barbier

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Unemployment rate during COVID-19

Evolution of unemployment rates between different regions across the world during the COVID-19 pandemic.

by Joseph Barbier

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Lollipop about music genres

A lollipop plot with a background image to visualize the popularity of music genres over time.

by Joseph Barbier

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Map with scatter plot on top

Path and duration of solar eclipses in the USA, in 2023 and 2024.

by Joseph Barbier

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Multiple choropleth map

Combine multiple maps about happiness together, with a lollipop plot for the legend.

by Joseph Barbier

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Scatter plot with specific highlights

Relationship between footprint and biocapacity of countries, with specific highlights on some countries.

by Joseph Barbier

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Dumbell chart

Advanced dumbell chart about wins and losses in the Bundesliga.

by Cédric Scherer

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Double heatmap for comparison

A double heatmap to compare normalized and non-normalized data about energy consumption in France

by Joseph Barbier

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Ridgeline with quantiles display

A ridgeline plot with quantiles and annotations to visualize the price distribution of rents in San Francisco.

by Ansgar Wolsing

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Polished table with bubbles

Investigating the 10 best and worst countries to live in, with bubble in cells to represent the data. A good way to showcase the plottable library.

by Fortune Uwha

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Line chart with word cloud

Movie titles in the background of a line chart to visualize average ratings over time.

by Joseph Barbier

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Mini stacked areas for US states

This compendium of stacked area charts went viral. Read a translation in python of this work by Enrin, originally written in R.

by Erin

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Choropleth map with gradient color

A choropleth map with a gradient color scale to visualize the number of people with cancer in European countries.

by Joseph Barbier

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Ordered & Mirrored barplot

A highly customized circular barplot visualizing Star Wars data using Python and Matplotlib. It provides a step-by-step guide from a basic barplot to a fully customized version including fonts, y-axis scaling, annotations and legend.

by Lisa Hornung

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Ordered & Mirrored barplot

A mirror barplot with individual observations using the Matplotlib library to visualize data about the Erasmus Program in European countries.

by Benjamin Nowak

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Scatterplot with grouping, highlighting and annotation

A scatter plot with custom annotations and colors, with some markers being circled.

by Data Wrapper

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Histogram with clean color scale and annotation

A clean and insightful histogram produced by the french institute of statistics showing the salary distribution in the country.

by INSEE

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Area over flexible baseline chart

An area over a flexible baseline to show deviations from a reference or baseline made with Python and Matplotlib or Plotly.

by J. Kühn

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Circular Barplot

A circular barchart with several features per group made with Python and Matplotlib

by T. Stadler

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Circular Lollipop Plot

A circular lollipop plot with customized layout, great color palette and in circle legend

by C. Scherer

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Violin and Boxplot combination

Allows the comparison of several groups with statistical test results on top

by T. Wang

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Circle Heatmap

A heatmap where each cell is filled by a circle with varying size

by M. Siple

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Circular barplot

A circular barplot with small multiples

by M. Siple

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Line chart with faceting

Several highlighted lineplots arranged in a multi panel layout to explore the evolution of the water source installation rankings by country

by A. Madjid

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Scatterplot with images

A scatter plot with images inside each marker to provide additional context

by Tanya Shapiro

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Horizontal Barplot

A reproduction of an horizontal barplot made by The Economist to showcase the power of Python for dataviz

by The Economist

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Parallel chart

A parallel coordinate chart to explore the maximum ages recorded for different species of lemurs with Python and Matplotlib.

by G. Karamanis

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Inline labels

Good looking line chart with inline labels at the end of each line

by C. Scherer

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Line chart from the Economist

Mimicking the style of the Economist to get a clean line chart

by The Economist

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Area chart from the Economist

Mimicking the style of the Economist to get a clean area chart

by The Economist

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Lollipop chart

A highly customized lollipop chart showing world records for the Mario Kart 64 racing game on the Nintendo 64

by C. Scherer

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Line chart with small multiple

A line chart with several groups per panel on a small multiple layout. With a beautiful color palette.

by O. Medina

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Radar chart with matplotlib

A highly customized radar chart with custom annotations and labels to explore the palmerpenguins dataset made with Python and Matplotlib.

by T. Wang

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Astronaut Scatterplot

A chart made of a scatterplot with variable color, shape, and opacity, and several annotations to explore the relationship between the characteristics of astronauts and space missions

by C. Thompson

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Scatterplot with regression fit

A custom scatterplot with an overlayed regression fit and auto-positioned labels to explore the relationship between the Corruption Perceptions Index and Human Development Index

by C. O. Wilke

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Stacked barchart

A clean stacked barplot with nice color palette, some very clean inline labels, a powerful title and slick footer caption with logos.

by G. Fontana

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X-men Streamchart

A streamchart to explore the appearances of the most popular characters in Chris Claremont's X-Men comics with Python

by C. Scherer

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Scatterplot with text repel

A custom scatterplot with auto-positioned labels to explore the palmerpenguins dataset made with Python and Matplotlib

by T. Wang

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Timeseries and faceting

Multiple lineplots with filled areas with a customized layout to explore the evolution of animal rescues across different boroughs in London

by G. Karamanis

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Polar bar chart

A polar bar chart showing the number of spanish speakers per country

by nyx-it-up

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Hourly heatmap

A very clean heatmap used as a timeseries

by J. MacKintosh

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Line chart & small multiple

Small multiple is a dataviz technique allowing to study several groups on the same figure. Repeating all groups but faded out adds some useful context to each section.

by G. Fontana

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Barplot with annotations and arrows

A barplot with annotations and arrows to highlight the most important features of the data

by J. Barbier

Note that I am always hunting for the best charts made with Python! If you have any examples in mind that should be showcased here, please let me know 🙏.

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If you like those examples, you will love Matplotlib Journey. It's an interactive online course crafted to transform you into a Matplotlib dataviz expert. It provides a clear, big-picture understanding of how data visualization works in Python, empowering you to grasp any example from the gallery with ease.

Finally, Understand Matplotlib.

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