change the background color of a Matplotlib plot

mpl_background.ipynb

{
 "metadata": {
  "name": ""
 },
 "nbformat": 3,
 "nbformat_minor": 0,
 "worksheets": [
  {
   "cells": [
    {
     "cell_type": "heading",
     "level": 1,
     "metadata": {},
     "source": [
      "Change the background color of a Matplotlib plot"
     ]
    },
    {
     "cell_type": "markdown",
     "metadata": {},
     "source": [
      "Pierre H. -- March 2014"
     ]
    },
    {
     "cell_type": "code",
     "collapsed": false,
     "input": [
      "import matplotlib as mpl\n",
      "import matplotlib.pyplot as plt"
     ],
     "language": "python",
     "metadata": {},
     "outputs": [],
     "prompt_number": 2
    },
    {
     "cell_type": "code",
     "collapsed": false,
     "input": [
      "mpl.__version__"
     ],
     "language": "python",
     "metadata": {},
     "outputs": [
      {
       "metadata": {},
       "output_type": "pyout",
       "prompt_number": 7,
       "text": [
        "'1.3.1'"
       ]
      }
     ],
     "prompt_number": 7
    },
    {
     "cell_type": "code",
     "collapsed": false,
     "input": [
      "# Default background is white:\n",
      "mpl.rcParams['axes.facecolor']"
     ],
     "language": "python",
     "metadata": {},
     "outputs": [
      {
       "metadata": {},
       "output_type": "pyout",
       "prompt_number": 3,
       "text": [
        "'w'"
       ]
      }
     ],
     "prompt_number": 3
    },
    {
     "cell_type": "code",
     "collapsed": false,
     "input": [
      "# Change it:\n",
      "mpl.rcParams['axes.facecolor'] = 'red'"
     ],
     "language": "python",
     "metadata": {},
     "outputs": [],
     "prompt_number": 4
    },
    {
     "cell_type": "markdown",
     "metadata": {},
     "source": [
      "test a plot:"
     ]
    },
    {
     "cell_type": "code",
     "collapsed": false,
     "input": [
      "plt.plot(range(3), '-D')"
     ],
     "language": "python",
     "metadata": {},
     "outputs": [
      {
       "metadata": {},
       "output_type": "pyout",
       "prompt_number": 6,
       "text": [
        "[<matplotlib.lines.Line2D at 0x27ff250>]"
       ]
      },
      {
       "metadata": {},
       "output_type": "display_data",
       "png": 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       "text": [
        "<matplotlib.figure.Figure at 0x259c1d0>"
       ]
      }
     ],
     "prompt_number": 6
    },
    {
     "cell_type": "markdown",
     "metadata": {},
     "source": [
      "\u2192 this plot burns the eyes..."
     ]
    }
   ],
   "metadata": {}
  }
 ]
}