From 5112ad5c4ecb073b0a59fb75f39d79c7d75121ec Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Christian Mattsson <47303717+chrille0313@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Wed, 19 Jun 2024 14:20:31 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] docs: update return value for Axes.axhspan and
 Axes.axvspan

---
 lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py | 12 ++++++------
 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py b/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py
index 9a2b367fb502..b8ad2acab711 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py
@@ -1006,14 +1006,14 @@ def axhspan(self, ymin, ymax, xmin=0, xmax=1, **kwargs):
 
         Returns
         -------
-        `~matplotlib.patches.Polygon`
+        `~matplotlib.patches.Rectangle`
             Horizontal span (rectangle) from (xmin, ymin) to (xmax, ymax).
 
         Other Parameters
         ----------------
-        **kwargs : `~matplotlib.patches.Polygon` properties
+        **kwargs : `~matplotlib.patches.Rectangle` properties
 
-        %(Polygon:kwdoc)s
+        %(Rectangle:kwdoc)s
 
         See Also
         --------
@@ -1061,14 +1061,14 @@ def axvspan(self, xmin, xmax, ymin=0, ymax=1, **kwargs):
 
         Returns
         -------
-        `~matplotlib.patches.Polygon`
+        `~matplotlib.patches.Rectangle`
             Vertical span (rectangle) from (xmin, ymin) to (xmax, ymax).
 
         Other Parameters
         ----------------
-        **kwargs : `~matplotlib.patches.Polygon` properties
+        **kwargs : `~matplotlib.patches.Rectangle` properties
 
-        %(Polygon:kwdoc)s
+        %(Rectangle:kwdoc)s
 
         See Also
         --------

From f0aaec946e3bc243e4710ed6ceaa23d48ac9065c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Christian Mattsson <47303717+chrille0313@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Wed, 19 Jun 2024 15:26:44 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 2/2] update return type of Axes.axhspan and Axes.axvspan in
 interface

---
 lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.pyi | 4 ++--
 lib/matplotlib/pyplot.py      | 4 ++--
 2 files changed, 4 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.pyi b/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.pyi
index b728d24d9fe9..d04e3ad99ddc 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.pyi
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.pyi
@@ -155,10 +155,10 @@ class Axes(_AxesBase):
     ) -> AxLine: ...
     def axhspan(
         self, ymin: float, ymax: float, xmin: float = ..., xmax: float = ..., **kwargs
-    ) -> Polygon: ...
+    ) -> Rectangle: ...
     def axvspan(
         self, xmin: float, xmax: float, ymin: float = ..., ymax: float = ..., **kwargs
-    ) -> Polygon: ...
+    ) -> Rectangle: ...
     def hlines(
         self,
         y: float | ArrayLike,
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/pyplot.py b/lib/matplotlib/pyplot.py
index 9b516d5aae8a..6f02e55de23a 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/pyplot.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/pyplot.py
@@ -2882,7 +2882,7 @@ def axhline(y: float = 0, xmin: float = 0, xmax: float = 1, **kwargs) -> Line2D:
 @_copy_docstring_and_deprecators(Axes.axhspan)
 def axhspan(
     ymin: float, ymax: float, xmin: float = 0, xmax: float = 1, **kwargs
-) -> Polygon:
+) -> Rectangle:
     return gca().axhspan(ymin, ymax, xmin=xmin, xmax=xmax, **kwargs)
 
 
@@ -2920,7 +2920,7 @@ def axvline(x: float = 0, ymin: float = 0, ymax: float = 1, **kwargs) -> Line2D:
 @_copy_docstring_and_deprecators(Axes.axvspan)
 def axvspan(
     xmin: float, xmax: float, ymin: float = 0, ymax: float = 1, **kwargs
-) -> Polygon:
+) -> Rectangle:
     return gca().axvspan(xmin, xmax, ymin=ymin, ymax=ymax, **kwargs)