diff --git a/doc/users/whats_new/2015-01-19_cursor_pixel_data.rst b/doc/users/whats_new/2015-01-19_cursor_pixel_data.rst
index 4490e9df35e4..b7339389dee9 100644
--- a/doc/users/whats_new/2015-01-19_cursor_pixel_data.rst
+++ b/doc/users/whats_new/2015-01-19_cursor_pixel_data.rst
@@ -1,6 +1,22 @@
 Allow Artists to Display Pixel Data in Cursor
 ---------------------------------------------
 
-Adds `get_pixel_data` and `format_pixel_data` methods to artists
+Adds `get_cursor_data` and `format_cursor_data` methods to artists
 which can be used to add zdata to the cursor display
 in the status bar.  Also adds an implementation for Images.
+
+Added an property attribute ``mouseover`` and rcParam
+(``axes.mouseover``) to Axes objects to control if the hit list is
+computed.  For moderate number of artists (>100) in the axes the
+expense to compute the top artist becomes greater than the time
+between mouse events.  For this reason the behavior defaults to
+``False``, but maybe enabled by default in the future when the hitlist
+computation is optimized.
+
+To enable the cursor message on a given axes ::
+
+  ax.mouseover = True
+
+To enable for all new axes created ::
+
+  matplotlib.rcParams['axes.mouseover'] = True
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/axes/_base.py b/lib/matplotlib/axes/_base.py
index 0b3f8b20a738..913f1b57473e 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/axes/_base.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/axes/_base.py
@@ -390,6 +390,8 @@ def __init__(self, fig, rect,
           *yscale*           [%(scale)s]
           *yticklabels*      sequence of strings
           *yticks*           sequence of floats
+          *mouseover*        [ *True* | *False*] if mouseover artists
+                             adds to message string in the gui window
           ================   =========================================
         """ % {'scale': ' | '.join(
             [repr(x) for x in mscale.get_scale_names()])}
@@ -406,6 +408,7 @@ def __init__(self, fig, rect,
         self.set_anchor('C')
         self._sharex = sharex
         self._sharey = sharey
+
         if sharex is not None:
             self._shared_x_axes.join(self, sharex)
             if sharex._adjustable == 'box':
@@ -467,6 +470,8 @@ def __init__(self, fig, rect,
             self._ycid = self.yaxis.callbacks.connect('units finalize',
                                                       self.relim)
 
+        self.mouseover = kwargs.pop('mouseover', rcParams['axes.mouseover'])
+
     def __setstate__(self, state):
         self.__dict__ = state
         # put the _remove_method back on all artists contained within the axes
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/backend_bases.py b/lib/matplotlib/backend_bases.py
index d0b59e5b7524..f61b1f35feaf 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/backend_bases.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/backend_bases.py
@@ -2812,7 +2812,10 @@ def mouse_move(self, event):
             except (ValueError, OverflowError):
                 pass
             else:
-                artists = event.inaxes.hitlist(event)
+                if event.inaxes.mouseover:
+                    artists = event.inaxes.hitlist(event)
+                else:
+                    artists = []
 
                 if artists:
                     a = max(enumerate(artists), key=lambda x: x[1].zorder)[1]
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/rcsetup.py b/lib/matplotlib/rcsetup.py
index a54463b1b49c..03b9a2feefae 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/rcsetup.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/rcsetup.py
@@ -756,7 +756,7 @@ def __call__(self, s):
     'axes.ymargin': [0, ValidateInterval(0, 1,
                                          closedmin=True,
                                          closedmax=True)],# margin added to yaxis
-
+    'axes.mouseover': [False, validate_bool],  # find top most artist and ask it for a message
     'polaraxes.grid': [True, validate_bool],  # display polar grid or
                                                      # not
     'axes3d.grid': [True, validate_bool],  # display 3d grid
@@ -812,7 +812,7 @@ def __call__(self, s):
     'xtick.minor.pad':   [4, validate_float],    # distance to label in points
     'xtick.color':       ['k', validate_color],  # color of the xtick labels
     'xtick.minor.visible':   [False, validate_bool],    # visiablility of the x axis minor ticks
-    
+
     # fontsize of the xtick labels
     'xtick.labelsize':   ['medium', validate_fontsize],
     'xtick.direction':   ['in', six.text_type],            # direction of xticks
diff --git a/matplotlibrc.template b/matplotlibrc.template
index 968c32802005..e159e42068c7 100644
--- a/matplotlibrc.template
+++ b/matplotlibrc.template
@@ -273,6 +273,9 @@ backend      : %(backend)s
                                             # web-style hex
 #axes.xmargin        : 0  # x margin.  See `axes.Axes.margins`
 #axes.ymargin        : 0  # y margin See `axes.Axes.margins`
+#axes.mouseover      : False  # if mouse motion should try to find the
+                              # top artist and append a message from that
+			      # artist to the gui message box
 
 #polaraxes.grid      : True    # display grid on polar axes
 #axes3d.grid         : True    # display grid on 3d axes
@@ -356,9 +359,9 @@ backend      : %(backend)s
 #image.lut    : 256               # the size of the colormap lookup table
 #image.origin : upper             # lower | upper
 #image.resample  : False
-#image.composite_image : True     # When True, all the images on a set of axes are 
-                                  # combined into a single composite image before 
-                                  # saving a figure as a vector graphics file, 
+#image.composite_image : True     # When True, all the images on a set of axes are
+                                  # combined into a single composite image before
+                                  # saving a figure as a vector graphics file,
                                   # such as a PDF.
 
 ### CONTOUR PLOTS