diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/figure.py b/lib/matplotlib/figure.py
index 299e893993f8..bf54af53dfc4 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/figure.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/figure.py
@@ -1204,7 +1204,7 @@ def add_axes(self, *args, **kwargs):
             fig.add_axes(ax)
         """
 
-        if not len(args):
+        if not len(args) and 'rect' not in kwargs:
             cbook.warn_deprecated(
                 "3.3",
                 message="Calling add_axes() without argument is "