diff --git a/doc/users/next_whats_new/version_info.rst b/doc/users/next_whats_new/version_info.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..5c51f9fe7332
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/users/next_whats_new/version_info.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+Version information
+-------------------
+We switched to the `release-branch-semver`_ version scheme. This only affects,
+the version information for development builds. Their version number now
+describes the targeted release, i.e. 3.5.0.dev820+g6768ef8c4c.d20210520
+is 820 commits after the previous release and is scheduled to be officially
+released as 3.5.0 later.
+
+In addition to the string ``__version__``, there is now a namedtuple
+``__version_info__`` as well, which is modelled after `sys.version_info`_.
+Its primary use is safely comparing version information, e.g.
+``if __version_info__ >= (3, 4, 2)``.
+
+.. _release-branch-semver: https://github.com/pypa/setuptools_scm#version-number-construction
+.. _sys.version_info: https://docs.python.org/3/library/sys.html#sys.version_info
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py b/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
index b657a35cf7ed..92ef93e0079c 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
@@ -129,25 +129,60 @@
   year      = 2007
 }"""
 
+# modelled after sys.version_info
+_VersionInfo = namedtuple('_VersionInfo',
+                          'major, minor, micro, releaselevel, serial')
 
-def __getattr__(name):
-    if name == "__version__":
+
+def _parse_to_version_info(version_str):
+    """
+    Parse a version string to a namedtuple analogous to sys.version_info.
+
+    See:
+    https://packaging.pypa.io/en/latest/version.html#packaging.version.parse
+    https://docs.python.org/3/library/sys.html#sys.version_info
+    """
+    v = parse_version(version_str)
+    if v.pre is None and v.post is None and v.dev is None:
+        return _VersionInfo(v.major, v.minor, v.micro, 'final', 0)
+    elif v.dev is not None:
+        return _VersionInfo(v.major, v.minor, v.micro, 'alpha', v.dev)
+    elif v.pre is not None:
+        releaselevel = {
+            'a': 'alpha',
+            'b': 'beta',
+            'rc': 'candidate'}.get(v.pre[0], 'alpha')
+        return _VersionInfo(v.major, v.minor, v.micro, releaselevel, v.pre[1])
+    else:
+        # fallback for v.post: guess-next-dev scheme from setuptools_scm
+        return _VersionInfo(v.major, v.minor, v.micro + 1, 'alpha', v.post)
+
+
+def _get_version():
+    """Return the version string used for __version__."""
+    # Only shell out to a git subprocess if really needed, and not on a
+    # shallow clone, such as those used by CI, as the latter would trigger
+    # a warning from setuptools_scm.
+    root = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[2]
+    if (root / ".git").exists() and not (root / ".git/shallow").exists():
         import setuptools_scm
+        return setuptools_scm.get_version(
+            root=root,
+            version_scheme="post-release",
+            local_scheme="node-and-date",
+            fallback_version=_version.version,
+        )
+    else:  # Get the version from the _version.py setuptools_scm file.
+        return _version.version
+
+
+def __getattr__(name):
+    if name in ("__version__", "__version_info__"):
         global __version__  # cache it.
-        # Only shell out to a git subprocess if really needed, and not on a
-        # shallow clone, such as those used by CI, as the latter would trigger
-        # a warning from setuptools_scm.
-        root = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[2]
-        if (root / ".git").exists() and not (root / ".git/shallow").exists():
-            __version__ = setuptools_scm.get_version(
-                root=root,
-                version_scheme="post-release",
-                local_scheme="node-and-date",
-                fallback_version=_version.version,
-            )
-        else:  # Get the version from the _version.py setuptools_scm file.
-            __version__ = _version.version
-        return __version__
+        __version__ = _get_version()
+        global __version__info__  # cache it.
+        __version_info__ = _parse_to_version_info(__version__)
+        return __version__ if name == "__version__" else __version_info__
     raise AttributeError(f"module {__name__!r} has no attribute {name!r}")
 
 
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_matplotlib.py b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_matplotlib.py
index cad9433a562e..6f92b4ca0abd 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_matplotlib.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_matplotlib.py
@@ -7,6 +7,16 @@
 import matplotlib
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('version_str, version_tuple', [
+    ('3.5.0', (3, 5, 0, 'final', 0)),
+    ('3.5.0rc2', (3, 5, 0, 'candidate', 2)),
+    ('3.5.0.dev820+g6768ef8c4c', (3, 5, 0, 'alpha', 820)),
+    ('3.5.0.post820+g6768ef8c4c', (3, 5, 1, 'alpha', 820)),
+])
+def test_parse_to_version_info(version_str, version_tuple):
+    assert matplotlib._parse_to_version_info(version_str) == version_tuple
+
+
 @pytest.mark.skipif(
     os.name == "nt", reason="chmod() doesn't work as is on Windows")
 @pytest.mark.skipif(os.name != "nt" and os.geteuid() == 0,