diff --git a/doc/_static/mpl.css b/doc/_static/mpl.css
index 2d26f8738406..bb7806a58db9 100644
--- a/doc/_static/mpl.css
+++ b/doc/_static/mpl.css
@@ -277,3 +277,22 @@ div.twocol > div {
     display: inline-block;
     margin: 0 0.5em;
 }
+
+
+/* styling for version switcher */
+.navbar-brand {
+    /* pydata-sphinx-theme sets this as flex for some reason
+       but we cannot place the version switcher to its right then.
+     */
+    display: inline-block;
+}
+
+#version_switcher {
+    display: inline-block;
+}
+
+#version_switcher_button {
+    color: rgba(var(--pst-color-text-base),1);
+    background-color: rgba(0,0,0,.03);
+    border: 1px solid rgba(0,0,0,.125);
+}
diff --git a/doc/conf.py b/doc/conf.py
index 4b8609e5ec01..6bc0d4351e2b 100644
--- a/doc/conf.py
+++ b/doc/conf.py
@@ -339,9 +339,14 @@ def matplotlib_reduced_latex_scraper(block, block_vars, gallery_conf,
     "switcher": {
         "json_url": "https://matplotlib.org/devdocs/_static/switcher.json",
         "url_template": "https://matplotlib.org/{version}/",
-        "version_match": version,
+        "version_match": (
+            # The start version to show. This must be in switcher.json.
+            # We either go to 'stable' or to 'devdocs'
+            'stable' if matplotlib.__version_info__.releaselevel == 'final'
+            else 'devdocs')
     },
-    "navbar_end": ["version-switcher", "mpl_icon_links"]
+    "navbar_start": ["mpl_navbar_logo", "version-switcher"],
+    "navbar_end": ["mpl_icon_links"]
 }
 include_analytics = is_release_build
 if include_analytics: