diff --git a/doc/_embedded_plots/figure_subplots_adjust.py b/doc/_embedded_plots/figure_subplots_adjust.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..b4b8d7d32a3d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/_embedded_plots/figure_subplots_adjust.py
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
+
+
+def arrow(p1, p2, **props):
+    axs[0, 0].annotate(
+        "", p1, p2,  xycoords='figure fraction',
+        arrowprops=dict(arrowstyle="<->", shrinkA=0, shrinkB=0, **props))
+
+
+fig, axs = plt.subplots(2, 2, figsize=(6.5, 4))
+fig.set_facecolor('lightblue')
+fig.subplots_adjust(0.1, 0.1, 0.9, 0.9, 0.4, 0.4)
+for ax in axs.flat:
+    ax.set(xticks=[], yticks=[])
+
+arrow((0, 0.75), (0.1, 0.75))  # left
+arrow((0.435, 0.75), (0.565, 0.75))  # wspace
+arrow((0.9, 0.75), (1, 0.75))  # right
+fig.text(0.05, 0.7, "left", ha="center")
+fig.text(0.5, 0.7, "wspace", ha="center")
+fig.text(0.95, 0.7, "right", ha="center")
+
+arrow((0.25, 0), (0.25, 0.1))  # bottom
+arrow((0.25, 0.435), (0.25, 0.565))  # hspace
+arrow((0.25, 0.9), (0.25, 1))  # top
+fig.text(0.28, 0.05, "bottom", va="center")
+fig.text(0.28, 0.5, "hspace", va="center")
+fig.text(0.28, 0.95, "top", va="center")
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/figure.py b/lib/matplotlib/figure.py
index 0d5a686de9d8..c82c9582dbaf 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/figure.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/figure.py
@@ -1322,6 +1322,8 @@ def subplots_adjust(self, left=None, bottom=None, right=None, top=None,
         Unset parameters are left unmodified; initial values are given by
         :rc:`figure.subplot.[name]`.
 
+        .. plot:: _embedded_plots/figure_subplots_adjust.py
+
         Parameters
         ----------
         left : float, optional