diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/figure.py b/lib/matplotlib/figure.py
index a7afc9ae63f1..5f6bf49f1a6c 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/figure.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/figure.py
@@ -873,7 +873,7 @@ def subplots(self, nrows=1, ncols=1, *, sharex=False, sharey=False,
             y = np.sin(x**2)
 
             # Create a figure
-            plt.figure()
+            fig = plt.figure()
 
             # Create a subplot
             ax = fig.subplots()