diff --git a/src/napari_matplotlib/base.py b/src/napari_matplotlib/base.py
index 8fc72d66..9a14b747 100644
--- a/src/napari_matplotlib/base.py
+++ b/src/napari_matplotlib/base.py
@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@ class NapariMPLWidget(QWidget):
     Base widget that can be embedded as a napari widget and contains a
     Matplotlib canvas.
 
-    This creates a single Axes, and sub-classes should implement logic for
-    drawing on that Axes.
+    This creates a single Figure, and sub-classes should implement logic for
+    drawing on that Figure.
 
     Attributes
     ----------
@@ -34,8 +34,6 @@ class NapariMPLWidget(QWidget):
         Matplotlib figure.
     canvas : matplotlib.backends.backend_qt5agg.FigureCanvas
         Matplotlib canvas.
-    axes : `matplotlib.axes.Axes`
-        Matplotlib axes.
     """
 
     def __init__(self, napari_viewer: napari.viewer.Viewer):
@@ -46,7 +44,6 @@ def __init__(self, napari_viewer: napari.viewer.Viewer):
         self.canvas = FigureCanvas()
         self.canvas.figure.patch.set_facecolor("#262930")
         self.toolbar = NavigationToolbar2QT(self.canvas, self)
-        self.axes = self.canvas.figure.subplots()
 
         self.setLayout(QVBoxLayout())
         self.layout().addWidget(self.toolbar)
diff --git a/src/napari_matplotlib/histogram.py b/src/napari_matplotlib/histogram.py
index 1cee9695..c9a9d820 100644
--- a/src/napari_matplotlib/histogram.py
+++ b/src/napari_matplotlib/histogram.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ class HistogramWidget(NapariMPLWidget):
 
     def __init__(self, napari_viewer: napari.viewer.Viewer):
         super().__init__(napari_viewer)
+        self.axes = self.canvas.figure.subplots()
         self.layer = self.viewer.layers[-1]
 
         self.viewer.dims.events.current_step.connect(self.hist_current_layer)
diff --git a/src/napari_matplotlib/scatter.py b/src/napari_matplotlib/scatter.py
index 1854a047..79575880 100644
--- a/src/napari_matplotlib/scatter.py
+++ b/src/napari_matplotlib/scatter.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ class ScatterWidget(NapariMPLWidget):
 
     def __init__(self, napari_viewer: napari.viewer.Viewer):
         super().__init__(napari_viewer)
+        self.axes = self.canvas.figure.subplots()
         self.layers = self.viewer.layers[-2:]
 
         self.viewer.dims.events.current_step.connect(