for i inrange(2): ax = fig.add_subplot(gs[1, i]) ax.plot(np.arange(1., 0., -0.1) * 2000., np.arange(1., 0., -0.1)) ax.set_ylabel('YLabel1 %d' % i) ax.set_xlabel('XLabel1 %d' % i) if i == 0: for tick in ax.get_xticklabels(): tick.set_rotation(55) fig.align_labels() # same as fig.align_xlabels(); fig.align_ylabels()