From 1c3241137a1180086c4db0bb06ee2f45da80d3cb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Tim Hoffmann <2836374+timhoffm@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2020 23:17:58 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] Add note on keeping a reference to animation docstrings

---
 lib/matplotlib/animation.py | 24 ++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 24 insertions(+)

diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/animation.py b/lib/matplotlib/animation.py
index 4edeb05ae4bc..ee9609cc2892 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/animation.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/animation.py
@@ -882,6 +882,12 @@ class Animation:
     This class is not usable as is, and should be subclassed to provide needed
     behavior.
 
+    .. note::
+
+        You must store the created Animation in a variable that lives as long
+        as the animation should run. Otherwise, the Animation object will be
+        garbage-collected and the animation stops.
+
     Parameters
     ----------
     fig : `~matplotlib.figure.Figure`
@@ -1394,6 +1400,12 @@ class TimedAnimation(Animation):
 
     A new frame is drawn every *interval* milliseconds.
 
+    .. note::
+
+        You must store the created Animation in a variable that lives as long
+        as the animation should run. Otherwise, the Animation object will be
+        garbage-collected and the animation stops.
+
     Parameters
     ----------
     fig : `~matplotlib.figure.Figure`
@@ -1462,6 +1474,12 @@ class ArtistAnimation(TimedAnimation):
     Before creating an instance, all plotting should have taken place
     and the relevant artists saved.
 
+    .. note::
+
+        You must store the created Animation in a variable that lives as long
+        as the animation should run. Otherwise, the Animation object will be
+        garbage-collected and the animation stops.
+
     Parameters
     ----------
     fig : `~matplotlib.figure.Figure`
@@ -1529,6 +1547,12 @@ class FuncAnimation(TimedAnimation):
     """
     Makes an animation by repeatedly calling a function *func*.
 
+    .. note::
+
+        You must store the created Animation in a variable that lives as long
+        as the animation should run. Otherwise, the Animation object will be
+        garbage-collected and the animation stops.
+
     Parameters
     ----------
     fig : `~matplotlib.figure.Figure`