diff --git a/doc/_embedded_plots/axes_margins.py b/doc/_embedded_plots/axes_margins.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..d026840c3c15
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/_embedded_plots/axes_margins.py
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+import numpy as np
+import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
+
+fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(6.5, 4))
+x = np.linspace(0, 1, 33)
+y = -np.sin(x * 2*np.pi)
+ax.plot(x, y, 'o')
+ax.margins(0.5, 0.2)
+ax.set_title("margins(x=0.5, y=0.2)")
+
+# fix the Axes limits so that the following helper drawings
+# cannot change them further.
+ax.set(xlim=ax.get_xlim(), ylim=ax.get_ylim())
+
+
+def arrow(p1, p2, **props):
+    ax.annotate("", p1, p2,
+                arrowprops=dict(arrowstyle="<->", shrinkA=0, shrinkB=0, **props))
+
+
+axmin, axmax = ax.get_xlim()
+aymin, aymax = ax.get_ylim()
+xmin, xmax = x.min(), x.max()
+ymin, ymax = y.min(), y.max()
+
+y0 = -0.8
+ax.axvspan(axmin, xmin, color=("orange", 0.1))
+ax.axvspan(xmax, axmax, color=("orange", 0.1))
+arrow((xmin, y0), (xmax, y0), color="sienna")
+arrow((xmax, y0), (axmax, y0), color="orange")
+ax.text((xmax + axmax)/2, y0+0.05, "x margin\n* x data range",
+        ha="center", va="bottom", color="orange")
+ax.text(0.55, y0+0.1, "x data range", va="bottom", color="sienna")
+
+x0 = 0.1
+ax.axhspan(aymin, ymin, color=("tab:green", 0.1))
+ax.axhspan(ymax, aymax, color=("tab:green", 0.1))
+arrow((x0, ymin), (x0, ymax), color="darkgreen")
+arrow((x0, ymax), (x0, aymax), color="tab:green")
+ax.text(x0, (ymax + aymax) / 2, "  y margin * y data range",
+        va="center", color="tab:green")
+ax.text(x0, 0.5, "  y data range", color="darkgreen")
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/axes/_base.py b/lib/matplotlib/axes/_base.py
index 52963c1d1ff5..18cfec831af4 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/axes/_base.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/axes/_base.py
@@ -2736,19 +2736,22 @@ def set_ymargin(self, m):
 
     def margins(self, *margins, x=None, y=None, tight=True):
         """
-        Set or retrieve autoscaling margins.
+        Set or retrieve margins around the data for autoscaling axis limits.
 
-        The padding added to each limit of the Axes is the *margin*
-        times the data interval. All input parameters must be floats
-        greater than -0.5. Passing both positional and keyword
-        arguments is invalid and will raise a TypeError. If no
-        arguments (positional or otherwise) are provided, the current
+        This allows to configure the padding around the data without having to
+        set explicit limits using `~.Axes.set_xlim` / `~.Axes.set_ylim`.
+
+        Autoscaling determines the axis limits by adding *margin* times the
+        data interval as padding around the data. See the following illustration:
+
+        .. plot:: _embedded_plots/axes_margins.py
+
+        All input parameters must be floats greater than -0.5. Passing both
+        positional and keyword arguments is invalid and will raise a TypeError.
+        If no arguments (positional or otherwise) are provided, the current
         margins will remain unchanged and simply be returned.
 
-        Specifying any margin changes only the autoscaling; for example,
-        if *xmargin* is not None, then *xmargin* times the X data
-        interval will be added to each end of that interval before
-        it is used in autoscaling.
+        The default margins are :rc:`axes.xmargin` and :rc:`axes.ymargin`.
 
         Parameters
         ----------
@@ -2780,10 +2783,14 @@ def margins(self, *margins, x=None, y=None, tight=True):
         Notes
         -----
         If a previously used Axes method such as :meth:`pcolor` has set
-        :attr:`use_sticky_edges` to `True`, only the limits not set by
-        the "sticky artists" will be modified. To force all of the
-        margins to be set, set :attr:`use_sticky_edges` to `False`
+        `~.Axes.use_sticky_edges` to `True`, only the limits not set by
+        the "sticky artists" will be modified. To force all
+        margins to be set, set `~.Axes.use_sticky_edges` to `False`
         before calling :meth:`margins`.
+
+        See Also
+        --------
+        .Axes.set_xmargin, .Axes.set_ymargin
         """
 
         if margins and (x is not None or y is not None):