diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/image.py b/lib/matplotlib/image.py
index a41428a5f345..e8ddf2613ec2 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/image.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/image.py
@@ -597,7 +597,9 @@ def contains(self, mouseevent):
         # collection on nonlinear transformed coordinates.
         # TODO: consider returning image coordinates (shouldn't
         # be too difficult given that the image is rectilinear
-        x, y = mouseevent.xdata, mouseevent.ydata
+        trans = self.get_transform()
+        x, y = trans.inverted().transform((mouseevent.x, mouseevent.y))
+
         xmin, xmax, ymin, ymax = self.get_extent()
         if xmin > xmax:
             xmin, xmax = xmax, xmin