diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/collections.py b/lib/matplotlib/collections.py
index a3f245bbc2c8..a594165d8594 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/collections.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/collections.py
@@ -778,6 +778,16 @@ def _get_default_facecolor(self):
         return mpl.rcParams['patch.facecolor']
 
     def _set_facecolor(self, c):
+        if self.get_array() is not None:
+            # Note: we cannot use self._face_is_mapped here because it is
+            # lazily calculated in update_scalarmappable(), but the equivalent
+            # logic there is that colormapping from an array takes precedence
+            # over an explicit facecolor.
+            _api.warn_external(
+                "Setting the facecolor has no effect because there is colormapped "
+                "array data, which takes precedence. Use `set_array(None)` before "
+                "setting the facecolor to override this.")
+
         if c is None:
             c = self._get_default_facecolor()
 
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_collections.py b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_collections.py
index db9c4be81a44..77efa6b2fa8d 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_collections.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_collections.py
@@ -333,6 +333,14 @@ def test_add_collection():
     assert ax.dataLim.bounds == bounds
 
 
+def test_collection_facecolor():
+    pc = plt.figure().subplots().scatter([0, 1, 2], [0, 1, 2], c=[0, 0.5, 1])
+    with pytest.warns(match="Setting the facecolor has no effect"):
+        pc.set_facecolor(['r', 'g', 'b'])
+    # the returned facecolor is the colormapped one:
+    pc.get_facecolor() == plt.get_cmap()([0, 0.5, 1])
+
+
 @mpl.style.context('mpl20')
 @check_figures_equal(extensions=['png'])
 def test_collection_log_datalim(fig_test, fig_ref):