diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index fee37e4afe4c..6508201e97c2 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ matrix:
       env: BUILD_DOCS=true
 
 install:
-  - pip install -q --use-mirrors nose python-dateutil $NUMPY pep8 pyparsing pillow
+  - pip install -q --use-mirrors nose python-dateutil $NUMPY pep8 pyparsing pillow sphinx
   - sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -qq install inkscape libav-tools gdb
   # We use --no-install-recommends to avoid pulling in additional large latex docs that we don't need
 
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ install:
   - |
     if [[ $BUILD_DOCS == true ]]; then
       sudo apt-get install -qq --no-install-recommends dvipng texlive-latex-base texlive-latex-extra texlive-fonts-recommended graphviz
-      pip install sphinx numpydoc linkchecker
+      pip install numpydoc linkchecker
       wget http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu/pool/universe/f/fonts-humor-sans/fonts-humor-sans_1.0-1_all.deb
       sudo dpkg -i fonts-humor-sans_1.0-1_all.deb
       wget https://googlefontdirectory.googlecode.com/hg/ofl/felipa/Felipa-Regular.ttf
diff --git a/doc/users/whats_new.rst b/doc/users/whats_new.rst
index daf53fe68249..f3dfbb720e89 100644
--- a/doc/users/whats_new.rst
+++ b/doc/users/whats_new.rst
@@ -66,6 +66,14 @@ New backend selection
 The environment variable :envvar:`MPLBACKEND` can now be used to set the
 matplotlib backend.
 
+New ``close-figs`` argument for plot directive
+----------------------------------------------
+
+Matplotlib has a sphinx extension ``plot_directive`` that creates plots for
+inclusion in sphinx documents.  Matplotlib 1.5 adds a new option to the plot
+directive - ``close-figs`` - that closes any previous figure windows before
+creating the plots.  This can help avoid some surprising duplicates of plots
+when using ``plot_directive``.
 
 .. _whats-new-1-4:
 
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py b/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
index 9193d179e57c..95adb553800a 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
@@ -1440,6 +1440,7 @@ def tk_window_focus():
     'matplotlib.tests.test_transforms',
     'matplotlib.tests.test_triangulation',
     'matplotlib.tests.test_widgets',
+    'matplotlib.sphinxext.tests.test_tinypages',
     'mpl_toolkits.tests.test_mplot3d',
     'mpl_toolkits.tests.test_axes_grid1',
     ]
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/plot_directive.py b/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/plot_directive.py
index 74d61006ca01..e9eff33bd8fd 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/plot_directive.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/plot_directive.py
@@ -62,8 +62,11 @@
         If provided, the code will be run in the context of all
         previous plot directives for which the `:context:` option was
         specified.  This only applies to inline code plot directives,
-        not those run from files. If the ``:context: reset`` is specified,
-        the context is reset for this and future plots.
+        not those run from files. If the ``:context: reset`` option is
+        specified, the context is reset for this and future plots, and
+        previous figures are closed prior to running the code.
+        ``:context:close-figs`` keeps the context but closes previous figures
+        before running the code.
 
     nofigs : bool
         If specified, the code block will be run, but no figures will
@@ -190,11 +193,9 @@ def _option_boolean(arg):
 
 
 def _option_context(arg):
-    if arg in [None, 'reset']:
+    if arg in [None, 'reset', 'close-figs']:
         return arg
-    else:
-        raise ValueError("argument should be None or 'reset'")
-    return directives.choice(arg, ('None', 'reset'))
+    raise ValueError("argument should be None or 'reset' or 'close-figs'")
 
 
 def _option_format(arg):
@@ -333,8 +334,8 @@ def remove_coding(text):
     """
     Remove the coding comment, which six.exec_ doesn't like.
     """
-    return re.sub(
-        "^#\s*-\*-\s*coding:\s*.*-\*-$", "", text, flags=re.MULTILINE)
+    sub_re = re.compile("^#\s*-\*-\s*coding:\s*.*-\*-$", flags=re.MULTILINE)
+    return sub_re.sub("", text)
 
 #------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Template
@@ -524,7 +525,8 @@ def clear_state(plot_rcparams, close=True):
 
 
 def render_figures(code, code_path, output_dir, output_base, context,
-                   function_name, config, context_reset=False):
+                   function_name, config, context_reset=False,
+                   close_figs=False):
     """
     Run a pyplot script and save the low and high res PNGs and a PDF
     in *output_dir*.
@@ -600,11 +602,16 @@ def render_figures(code, code_path, output_dir, output_base, context,
 
     if context_reset:
         clear_state(config.plot_rcparams)
+        plot_context.clear()
+
+    close_figs = not context or close_figs
 
     for i, code_piece in enumerate(code_pieces):
 
         if not context or config.plot_apply_rcparams:
-            clear_state(config.plot_rcparams, close=not context)
+            clear_state(config.plot_rcparams, close_figs)
+        elif close_figs:
+            plt.close('all')
 
         run_code(code_piece, code_path, ns, function_name)
 
@@ -644,8 +651,8 @@ def run(arguments, content, options, state_machine, state, lineno):
     nofigs = 'nofigs' in options
 
     options.setdefault('include-source', config.plot_include_source)
-    context = 'context' in options
-    context_reset = True if (context and options['context'] == 'reset') else False
+    keep_context = 'context' in options
+    context_opt = None if not keep_context else options['context']
 
     rst_file = document.attributes['source']
     rst_dir = os.path.dirname(rst_file)
@@ -729,9 +736,15 @@ def run(arguments, content, options, state_machine, state, lineno):
 
     # make figures
     try:
-        results = render_figures(code, source_file_name, build_dir, output_base,
-                                 context, function_name, config,
-                                 context_reset=context_reset)
+        results = render_figures(code,
+                                 source_file_name,
+                                 build_dir,
+                                 output_base,
+                                 keep_context,
+                                 function_name,
+                                 config,
+                                 context_reset=context_opt == 'reset',
+                                 close_figs=context_opt == 'close-figs')
         errors = []
     except PlotError as err:
         reporter = state.memo.reporter
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/__init__.py b/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..7a8947f7fb9b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+# Make tests a package
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/test_tinypages.py b/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/test_tinypages.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..2e78ec88f7f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/test_tinypages.py
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+""" Tests for tinypages build using sphinx extensions """
+
+import shutil
+import tempfile
+
+from os.path import (join as pjoin, dirname, isdir)
+
+from subprocess import call, Popen, PIPE
+
+from nose import SkipTest
+from nose.tools import assert_true
+
+HERE = dirname(__file__)
+TINY_PAGES = pjoin(HERE, 'tinypages')
+
+
+def setup():
+    # Check we have the sphinx-build command
+    try:
+        ret = call(['sphinx-build', '--help'], stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE)
+    except OSError:
+        raise SkipTest('Need sphinx-build on path for these tests')
+    if ret != 0:
+        raise RuntimeError('sphinx-build does not return 0')
+
+
+def file_same(file1, file2):
+    with open(file1, 'rb') as fobj:
+        contents1 = fobj.read()
+    with open(file2, 'rb') as fobj:
+        contents2 = fobj.read()
+    return contents1 == contents2
+
+
+class TestTinyPages(object):
+    # Test build and output of tinypages project
+
+    @classmethod
+    def setup_class(cls):
+        cls.page_build = tempfile.mkdtemp()
+        try:
+            cls.html_dir = pjoin(cls.page_build, 'html')
+            cls.doctree_dir = pjoin(cls.page_build, 'doctrees')
+            # Build the pages with warnings turned into errors
+            cmd = ['sphinx-build', '-W', '-b', 'html',
+                   '-d', cls.doctree_dir,
+                   TINY_PAGES,
+                   cls.html_dir]
+            proc = Popen(cmd, stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE)
+            out, err = proc.communicate()
+        except Exception as e:
+            shutil.rmtree(cls.page_build)
+            raise e
+        if proc.returncode != 0:
+            shutil.rmtree(cls.page_build)
+            raise RuntimeError('sphinx-build failed with stdout:\n'
+                               '{0}\nstderr:\n{1}\n'.format(
+                                    out, err))
+
+    @classmethod
+    def teardown_class(cls):
+        shutil.rmtree(cls.page_build)
+
+    def test_some_plots(self):
+        assert_true(isdir(self.html_dir))
+
+        def plot_file(num):
+            return pjoin(self.html_dir, 'some_plots-{0}.png'.format(num))
+
+        range_10, range_6, range_4 = [plot_file(i) for i in range(1, 4)]
+        # Plot 5 is range(6) plot
+        assert_true(file_same(range_6, plot_file(5)))
+        # Plot 7 is range(4) plot
+        assert_true(file_same(range_4, plot_file(7)))
+        # Plot 11 is range(10) plot
+        assert_true(file_same(range_10, plot_file(11)))
+        # Plot 12 uses the old range(10) figure and the new range(6) figure
+        assert_true(file_same(range_10, plot_file('12_00')))
+        assert_true(file_same(range_6, plot_file('12_01')))
+        # Plot 13 shows close-figs in action
+        assert_true(file_same(range_4, plot_file(13)))
+        # Plot 14 has included source
+        with open(pjoin(self.html_dir, 'some_plots.html'), 'rt') as fobj:
+            html_contents = fobj.read()
+        assert_true('# Only a comment' in html_contents)
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/tinypages/.gitignore b/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/tinypages/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..69fa449dd96e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/tinypages/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+_build/
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/tinypages/README.md b/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/tinypages/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..e53d0adc5bdd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/tinypages/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# Test project for matplotlib sphinx extensions
+
+A tiny sphinx project from ``sphinx-quickstart`` with all default answers.
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/tinypages/_static/.gitignore b/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/tinypages/_static/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..e69de29bb2d1
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/tinypages/_static/README.txt b/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/tinypages/_static/README.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..ebde2c4b4ab7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/tinypages/_static/README.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+##############################
+Static directory for tinypages
+##############################
+
+We need this README file to make sure the ``_static`` directory gets created
+in the installation.  The tests check for warnings in builds, and, when the
+``_static`` directory is absent, this raises a warning.
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/tinypages/conf.py b/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/tinypages/conf.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..22217fc97f75
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/tinypages/conf.py
@@ -0,0 +1,259 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+#
+# tinypages documentation build configuration file, created by
+# sphinx-quickstart on Tue Mar 18 11:58:34 2014.
+#
+# This file is execfile()d with the current directory set to its
+# containing dir.
+#
+# Note that not all possible configuration values are present in this
+# autogenerated file.
+#
+# All configuration values have a default; values that are commented out
+# serve to show the default.
+
+import sys
+from os.path import join as pjoin, abspath
+
+# If extensions (or modules to document with autodoc) are in another directory,
+# add these directories to sys.path here. If the directory is relative to the
+# documentation root, use os.path.abspath to make it absolute, like shown here.
+#sys.path.insert(0, os.path.abspath('.'))
+sys.path.insert(0, abspath(pjoin('..', '..')))
+
+# -- General configuration ------------------------------------------------
+
+# If your documentation needs a minimal Sphinx version, state it here.
+#needs_sphinx = '1.0'
+
+# Add any Sphinx extension module names here, as strings. They can be
+# extensions coming with Sphinx (named 'sphinx.ext.*') or your custom
+# ones.
+extensions = ['matplotlib.sphinxext.plot_directive']
+
+# Add any paths that contain templates here, relative to this directory.
+templates_path = ['_templates']
+
+# The suffix of source filenames.
+source_suffix = '.rst'
+
+# The encoding of source files.
+#source_encoding = 'utf-8-sig'
+
+# The master toctree document.
+master_doc = 'index'
+
+# General information about the project.
+project = u'tinypages'
+copyright = u'2014, Matplotlib developers'
+
+# The version info for the project you're documenting, acts as replacement for
+# |version| and |release|, also used in various other places throughout the
+# built documents.
+#
+# The short X.Y version.
+version = '0.1'
+# The full version, including alpha/beta/rc tags.
+release = '0.1'
+
+# The language for content autogenerated by Sphinx. Refer to documentation
+# for a list of supported languages.
+#language = None
+
+# There are two options for replacing |today|: either, you set today to some
+# non-false value, then it is used:
+#today = ''
+# Else, today_fmt is used as the format for a strftime call.
+#today_fmt = '%B %d, %Y'
+
+# List of patterns, relative to source directory, that match files and
+# directories to ignore when looking for source files.
+exclude_patterns = ['_build']
+
+# The reST default role (used for this markup: `text`) to use for all
+# documents.
+#default_role = None
+
+# If true, '()' will be appended to :func: etc. cross-reference text.
+#add_function_parentheses = True
+
+# If true, the current module name will be prepended to all description
+# unit titles (such as .. function::).
+#add_module_names = True
+
+# If true, sectionauthor and moduleauthor directives will be shown in the
+# output. They are ignored by default.
+#show_authors = False
+
+# The name of the Pygments (syntax highlighting) style to use.
+pygments_style = 'sphinx'
+
+# A list of ignored prefixes for module index sorting.
+#modindex_common_prefix = []
+
+# If true, keep warnings as "system message" paragraphs in the built documents.
+#keep_warnings = False
+
+
+# -- Options for HTML output ----------------------------------------------
+
+# The theme to use for HTML and HTML Help pages.  See the documentation for
+# a list of builtin themes.
+html_theme = 'default'
+
+# Theme options are theme-specific and customize the look and feel of a theme
+# further.  For a list of options available for each theme, see the
+# documentation.
+#html_theme_options = {}
+
+# Add any paths that contain custom themes here, relative to this directory.
+#html_theme_path = []
+
+# The name for this set of Sphinx documents.  If None, it defaults to
+# "<project> v<release> documentation".
+#html_title = None
+
+# A shorter title for the navigation bar.  Default is the same as html_title.
+#html_short_title = None
+
+# The name of an image file (relative to this directory) to place at the top
+# of the sidebar.
+#html_logo = None
+
+# The name of an image file (within the static path) to use as favicon of the
+# docs.  This file should be a Windows icon file (.ico) being 16x16 or 32x32
+# pixels large.
+#html_favicon = None
+
+# Add any paths that contain custom static files (such as style sheets) here,
+# relative to this directory. They are copied after the builtin static files,
+# so a file named "default.css" will overwrite the builtin "default.css".
+html_static_path = ['_static']
+
+# Add any extra paths that contain custom files (such as robots.txt or
+# .htaccess) here, relative to this directory. These files are copied
+# directly to the root of the documentation.
+#html_extra_path = []
+
+# If not '', a 'Last updated on:' timestamp is inserted at every page bottom,
+# using the given strftime format.
+#html_last_updated_fmt = '%b %d, %Y'
+
+# If true, SmartyPants will be used to convert quotes and dashes to
+# typographically correct entities.
+#html_use_smartypants = True
+
+# Custom sidebar templates, maps document names to template names.
+#html_sidebars = {}
+
+# Additional templates that should be rendered to pages, maps page names to
+# template names.
+#html_additional_pages = {}
+
+# If false, no module index is generated.
+#html_domain_indices = True
+
+# If false, no index is generated.
+#html_use_index = True
+
+# If true, the index is split into individual pages for each letter.
+#html_split_index = False
+
+# If true, links to the reST sources are added to the pages.
+#html_show_sourcelink = True
+
+# If true, "Created using Sphinx" is shown in the HTML footer. Default is True.
+#html_show_sphinx = True
+
+# If true, "(C) Copyright ..." is shown in the HTML footer. Default is True.
+#html_show_copyright = True
+
+# If true, an OpenSearch description file will be output, and all pages will
+# contain a <link> tag referring to it.  The value of this option must be the
+# base URL from which the finished HTML is served.
+#html_use_opensearch = ''
+
+# This is the file name suffix for HTML files (e.g. ".xhtml").
+#html_file_suffix = None
+
+# Output file base name for HTML help builder.
+htmlhelp_basename = 'tinypagesdoc'
+
+
+# -- Options for LaTeX output ---------------------------------------------
+
+latex_elements = {
+# The paper size ('letterpaper' or 'a4paper').
+#'papersize': 'letterpaper',
+
+# The font size ('10pt', '11pt' or '12pt').
+#'pointsize': '10pt',
+
+# Additional stuff for the LaTeX preamble.
+#'preamble': '',
+}
+
+# Grouping the document tree into LaTeX files. List of tuples
+# (source start file, target name, title,
+#  author, documentclass [howto, manual, or own class]).
+latex_documents = [
+  ('index', 'tinypages.tex', u'tinypages Documentation',
+   u'Matplotlib developers', 'manual'),
+]
+
+# The name of an image file (relative to this directory) to place at the top of
+# the title page.
+#latex_logo = None
+
+# For "manual" documents, if this is true, then toplevel headings are parts,
+# not chapters.
+#latex_use_parts = False
+
+# If true, show page references after internal links.
+#latex_show_pagerefs = False
+
+# If true, show URL addresses after external links.
+#latex_show_urls = False
+
+# Documents to append as an appendix to all manuals.
+#latex_appendices = []
+
+# If false, no module index is generated.
+#latex_domain_indices = True
+
+
+# -- Options for manual page output ---------------------------------------
+
+# One entry per manual page. List of tuples
+# (source start file, name, description, authors, manual section).
+man_pages = [
+    ('index', 'tinypages', u'tinypages Documentation',
+     [u'Matplotlib developers'], 1)
+]
+
+# If true, show URL addresses after external links.
+#man_show_urls = False
+
+
+# -- Options for Texinfo output -------------------------------------------
+
+# Grouping the document tree into Texinfo files. List of tuples
+# (source start file, target name, title, author,
+#  dir menu entry, description, category)
+texinfo_documents = [
+  ('index', 'tinypages', u'tinypages Documentation',
+   u'Matplotlib developers', 'tinypages', 'One line description of project.',
+   'Miscellaneous'),
+]
+
+# Documents to append as an appendix to all manuals.
+#texinfo_appendices = []
+
+# If false, no module index is generated.
+#texinfo_domain_indices = True
+
+# How to display URL addresses: 'footnote', 'no', or 'inline'.
+#texinfo_show_urls = 'footnote'
+
+# If true, do not generate a @detailmenu in the "Top" node's menu.
+#texinfo_no_detailmenu = False
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/tinypages/index.rst b/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/tinypages/index.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..3905483a8a57
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/tinypages/index.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+.. tinypages documentation master file, created by
+   sphinx-quickstart on Tue Mar 18 11:58:34 2014.
+   You can adapt this file completely to your liking, but it should at least
+   contain the root `toctree` directive.
+
+Welcome to tinypages's documentation!
+=====================================
+
+Contents:
+
+.. toctree::
+    :maxdepth: 2
+
+    some_plots
+
+Indices and tables
+==================
+
+* :ref:`genindex`
+* :ref:`modindex`
+* :ref:`search`
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/tinypages/some_plots.rst b/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/tinypages/some_plots.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..d80b8c43f56b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/tinypages/some_plots.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+##########
+Some plots
+##########
+
+Plot 1 does not use context:
+
+.. plot::
+
+    plt.plot(range(10))
+    a = 10
+
+Plot 2 doesn't use context either; has length 6:
+
+.. plot::
+
+    plt.plot(range(6))
+
+Plot 3 has length 4:
+
+.. plot::
+
+    plt.plot(range(4))
+
+Plot 4 shows that a new block with context does not see the variable defined
+in the no-context block:
+
+.. plot::
+    :context:
+
+    assert 'a' not in globals()
+
+Plot 5 defines ``a`` in a context block:
+
+.. plot::
+    :context:
+
+    plt.plot(range(6))
+    a = 10
+
+Plot 6 shows that a block with context sees the new variable.  It also uses
+``:nofigs:``:
+
+.. plot::
+    :context:
+    :nofigs:
+
+    assert a == 10
+    b = 4
+
+Plot 7 uses a variable previously defined in previous ``nofigs`` context. It
+also closes any previous figures to create a fresh figure:
+
+.. plot::
+    :context: close-figs
+
+    assert b == 4
+    plt.plot(range(b))
+
+Plot 8 shows that a non-context block still doesn't have ``a``:
+
+.. plot::
+    :nofigs:
+
+    assert 'a' not in globals()
+
+Plot 9 has a context block, and does have ``a``:
+
+.. plot::
+    :context:
+    :nofigs:
+
+    assert a == 10
+
+Plot 10 resets context, and ``a`` has gone again:
+
+.. plot::
+    :context: reset
+    :nofigs:
+
+    assert 'a' not in globals()
+    c = 10
+
+Plot 11 continues the context, we have the new value, but not the old:
+
+.. plot::
+    :context:
+
+    assert c == 10
+    assert 'a' not in globals()
+    plt.plot(range(c))
+
+Plot 12 opens a new figure.  By default the directive will plot both the first
+and the second figure:
+
+.. plot::
+    :context:
+
+    plt.figure()
+    plt.plot(range(6))
+
+Plot 13 shows ``close-figs`` in action.  ``close-figs`` closes all figures
+previous to this plot directive, so we get always plot the figure we create in
+the directive:
+
+.. plot::
+    :context: close-figs
+
+    plt.figure()
+    plt.plot(range(4))
+
+Plot 14 uses ``include-source``:
+
+.. plot::
+    :include-source:
+
+    # Only a comment
diff --git a/setupext.py b/setupext.py
index 604a62551a3d..61e25bc072c0 100755
--- a/setupext.py
+++ b/setupext.py
@@ -672,6 +672,7 @@ def check(self):
     def get_packages(self):
         return [
             'matplotlib.tests',
+            'matplotlib.sphinxext.tests',
             ]
 
     def get_package_data(self):
@@ -686,6 +687,9 @@ def get_package_data(self):
                 'tests/mpltest.ttf',
                 'tests/test_rcparams.rc',
                 'tests/test_utf32_be_rcparams.rc',
+                'sphinxext/tests/tinypages/*.rst',
+                'sphinxext/tests/tinypages/*.py',
+                'sphinxext/tests/tinypages/_static/*',
             ]}
 
     def get_install_requires(self):