Create one Rectangle patch for each shape, then add every patch to the same Matplotlib Axes with ax.add_patch(). This keeps each rectangle independently configurable, including its position, size, color, transparency, and outline.
Plot several rectangles on one Axes
A Rectangle is defined by an anchor coordinate, a width, and a height. The following example creates three rectangles with different colors and adds them to one plot:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from matplotlib.patches import Rectangle
fig, ax = plt.subplots()
rectangles = [
(0, 0, 2, 1, "tab:blue"),
(1, 1, 1.5, 2, "tab:orange"),
(3, 0.5, 1, 1.5, "tab:green"),
]
for x, y, width, height, color in rectangles:
rect = Rectangle(
(x, y), width, height,
facecolor=color,
edgecolor="black",
alpha=0.6,
)
ax.add_patch(rect)
ax.set_xlim(-0.5, 4.5)
ax.set_ylim(-0.5, 3.5)
ax.set_aspect("equal")
plt.show()The Rectangle constructor creates each patch; ax.add_patch(rect) associates it with the Axes and its default data transform. Adding patches also updates the Axes data-limit structures used for autoscaling. Set limits explicitly when you need a particular view rather than relying on autoscaling. See the Matplotlib Artist tutorial and the Rectangle API.
Understand the rectangle coordinates
Rectangle((x, y), width, height) describes an extent from x to x + width and from y to y + height. The anchor is not always the bottom-left corner: axis direction and negative width or height can change which corner it represents. Check the Rectangle API if your axes are inverted or dimensions are negative.
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For rectangles that only need outlines, set fill=False. A simple loop can construct them from position and size data:
for x, y, width, height in boxes:
ax.add_patch(
Rectangle((x, y), width, height, fill=False, linewidth=2)
)Style and rotate individual rectangles
Pass styling as keyword arguments to each patch. Common options include facecolor, edgecolor, alpha, linewidth, linestyle, and hatch. Use angle to rotate a rectangle; its rotation_point defaults to 'xy', the anchor coordinate. See the Rectangle API for the current parameter details.
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When patches overlap, draw order determines which one appears on top. Set each patch’s zorder when you need explicit layering; the Patch API documents this property.
Choose patches or another plotting approach
- A few rectangles or individually styled shapes: create separate
Rectangleobjects and add them to the Axes. This is the clearest option when shapes need different properties or rotation. - Many patches with shared appearance: consider
PatchCollection. The collection API accepts one face color or a sequence of face colors; check its styling options before using it if each shape needs distinct settings. See the Collections API. - Arbitrary filled polygons: use
ax.fillwhen the shapes are more naturally described as polygons than as axis-aligned rectangles. The pyplot.fill API accepts multiple x/y polygon groups.
Matplotlib’s historical example compares rectangle patches with collection-based techniques for repeated histogram geometry. That example concerns its particular histogram case; it is not a general performance guarantee for every workload. See Histogram rectangles and PolyCollections.
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