@@ -261,7 +261,7 @@ jobs:
           # Preinstall build requirements to enable no-build-isolation builds.
           python -m pip install --upgrade $PRE \
             'contourpy>=1.0.1' cycler fonttools kiwisolver importlib_resources \
-            numpy packaging pillow 'pyparsing!=3.1.0' python-dateutil setuptools-scm \
+            packaging pillow 'pyparsing!=3.1.0' python-dateutil setuptools-scm \
             'meson-python>=0.13.1' 'pybind11>=2.6' \
             -r requirements/testing/all.txt \
             ${{ matrix.extra-requirements }}
 
@@ -47,7 +47,6 @@ requires-python = ">=3.10"
 # Should be a copy of the build dependencies below.
 dev = [
     "meson-python>=0.13.1",
-    "numpy>=1.25",
     "pybind11>=2.6,!=2.13.3",
     "setuptools_scm>=7",
     # Not required by us but setuptools_scm without a version, cso _if_
@@ -74,18 +73,6 @@ requires = [
     "meson-python>=0.13.1",
     "pybind11>=2.6,!=2.13.3",
     "setuptools_scm>=7",
-
-    # Comments on numpy build requirement range:
-    #
-    #   1. >=2.0.x is the numpy requirement for wheel builds for distribution
-    #      on PyPI - building against 2.x yields wheels that are also
-    #      ABI-compatible with numpy 1.x at runtime.
-    #   2. Note that building against numpy 1.x works fine too - users and
-    #      redistributors can do this by installing the numpy version they like
-    #      and disabling build isolation.
-    #   3. The <2.3 upper bound is for matching the numpy deprecation policy,
-    #      it should not be loosened.
-    "numpy>=2.0.0rc1,<2.3",
 ]
 
 [tool.meson-python.args]
 
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
 pybind11!=2.13.3
 meson-python
-numpy<2.1.0
 setuptools-scm
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ contourpy>=1.0.1
 cycler>=0.10
 fonttools>=4.22.0
 kiwisolver>=1.3.1
-numpy>=1.19
 packaging>=20.0
 pillow>=8
 pyparsing>=2.3.1
 
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 #include <pybind11/numpy.h>
 #include <pybind11/stl.h>
 #include "mplutils.h"
-#include "numpy_cpp.h"
 #include "py_converters.h"
 #include "_backend_agg.h"
 
@@ -188,14 +187,6 @@ PyRendererAgg_draw_gouraud_triangles(RendererAgg *self,
 
 PYBIND11_MODULE(_backend_agg, m)
 {
-    auto ia = [m]() -> const void* {
-        import_array();
-        return &m;
-    };
-    if (ia() == NULL) {
-        throw py::error_already_set();
-    }
-
     py::class_<RendererAgg>(m, "RendererAgg", py::buffer_protocol())
         .def(py::init<unsigned int, unsigned int, double>(),
              "width"_a, "height"_a, "dpi"_a)
 
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
 
 #include "path_converters.h"
 #include "_backend_agg_basic_types.h"
-#include "numpy_cpp.h"
 
 const size_t NUM_VERTICES[] = { 1, 1, 1, 2, 3 };
 
@@ -1004,15 +1003,15 @@ void convert_path_to_polygons(PathIterator &path,
 
 template <class VertexSource>
 void
-__cleanup_path(VertexSource &source, std::vector<double> &vertices, std::vector<npy_uint8> &codes)
+__cleanup_path(VertexSource &source, std::vector<double> &vertices, std::vector<uint8_t> &codes)
 {
     unsigned code;
     double x, y;
     do {
         code = source.vertex(&x, &y);
         vertices.push_back(x);
         vertices.push_back(y);
-        codes.push_back((npy_uint8)code);
+        codes.push_back(static_cast<uint8_t>(code));
     } while (code != agg::path_cmd_stop);
 }
 
 
@@ -7,8 +7,6 @@
 #include <string>
 #include <vector>
 
-#include "numpy_cpp.h"
-
 #include "_path.h"
 
 #include "_backend_agg_basic_types.h"
@@ -266,7 +264,7 @@ Py_cleanup_path(mpl::PathIterator path, agg::trans_affine trans, bool remove_nan
     bool do_clip = (clip_rect.x1 < clip_rect.x2 && clip_rect.y1 < clip_rect.y2);
 
     std::vector<double> vertices;
-    std::vector<npy_uint8> codes;
+    std::vector<uint8_t> codes;
 
     cleanup_path(path, trans, remove_nans, do_clip, clip_rect, snap_mode, stroke_width,
                  *simplify, return_curves, sketch, vertices, codes);
@@ -374,14 +372,6 @@ Py_is_sorted_and_has_non_nan(py::object obj)
 
 PYBIND11_MODULE(_path, m)
 {
-    auto ia = [m]() -> const void* {
-        import_array();
-        return &m;
-    };
-    if (ia() == NULL) {
-        throw py::error_already_set();
-    }
-
     m.def("point_in_path", &Py_point_in_path,
           "x"_a, "y"_a, "radius"_a, "path"_a, "trans"_a);
     m.def("points_in_path", &Py_points_in_path,
 
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 #include <pybind11/stl.h>
 
 #include "ft2font.h"
-#include "numpy/arrayobject.h"
 
 #include <set>
 #include <sstream>
@@ -955,14 +954,6 @@ PyFT2Font_fname(PyFT2Font *self)
 
 PYBIND11_MODULE(ft2font, m)
 {
-    auto ia = [m]() -> const void* {
-        import_array();
-        return &m;
-    };
-    if (ia() == NULL) {
-        throw py::error_already_set();
-    }
-
     if (FT_Init_FreeType(&_ft2Library)) {  // initialize library
         throw std::runtime_error("Could not initialize the freetype2 library");
     }
 
@@ -1,42 +1,3 @@
-# NumPy include directory - needed in all submodules
-# The try-except is needed because when things are split across drives on Windows, there
-# is no relative path and an exception gets raised. There may be other such cases, so add
-# a catch-all and switch to an absolute path. Relative paths are needed when for example
-# a virtualenv is placed inside the source tree; Meson rejects absolute paths to places
-# inside the source tree.
-# For cross-compilation it is often not possible to run the Python interpreter in order
-# to retrieve numpy's include directory. It can be specified in the cross file instead:
-#
-#   [properties]
-#   numpy-include-dir = /abspath/to/host-pythons/site-packages/numpy/core/include
-#
-# This uses the path as is, and avoids running the interpreter.
-incdir_numpy = meson.get_external_property('numpy-include-dir', 'not-given')
-if incdir_numpy == 'not-given'
-  incdir_numpy = run_command(py3,
-    [
-      '-c',
-      '''import os
-import numpy as np
-try:
-    incdir = os.path.relpath(np.get_include())
-except Exception:
-    incdir = np.get_include()
-print(incdir)'''
-    ],
-    check: true
-  ).stdout().strip()
-endif
-numpy_dep = declare_dependency(
-  compile_args: [
-    '-DNPY_NO_DEPRECATED_API=NPY_1_7_API_VERSION',
-    # Allow NumPy's printf format specifiers in C++.
-    '-D__STDC_FORMAT_MACROS=1',
-  ],
-  include_directories: include_directories(incdir_numpy),
-  dependencies: py3_dep,
-)
-
 # For cross-compilation it is often not possible to run the Python interpreter in order
 # to retrieve the platform-specific /dev/null. It can be specified in the cross file
 # instead:
@@ -76,7 +37,7 @@ extension_data = {
       '_backend_agg.cpp',
       '_backend_agg_wrapper.cpp',
     ),
-    'dependencies': [agg_dep, numpy_dep, freetype_dep, pybind11_dep],
+    'dependencies': [agg_dep, freetype_dep, pybind11_dep],
   },
   '_c_internal_utils': {
     'subdir': 'matplotlib',
@@ -92,7 +53,7 @@ extension_data = {
       'ft2font_wrapper.cpp',
     ),
     'dependencies': [
-      freetype_dep, pybind11_dep, numpy_dep, agg_dep.partial_dependency(includes: true),
+      freetype_dep, pybind11_dep, agg_dep.partial_dependency(includes: true),
     ],
     'cpp_args': [
       '-DFREETYPE_BUILD_TYPE="@0@"'.format(
@@ -117,7 +78,7 @@ extension_data = {
     'sources': files(
       '_path_wrapper.cpp',
     ),
-    'dependencies': [numpy_dep, agg_dep, pybind11_dep],
+    'dependencies': [agg_dep, pybind11_dep],
   },
   '_qhull': {
     'subdir': 'matplotlib',
@@ -157,16 +118,7 @@ extension_data = {
 }
 
 foreach ext, kwargs : extension_data
-  # Ensure that PY_ARRAY_UNIQUE_SYMBOL is uniquely defined for each extension.
-  unique_array_api = '-DPY_ARRAY_UNIQUE_SYMBOL=MPL_@0@_ARRAY_API'.format(ext.replace('.', '_'))
-  additions = {
-    'c_args': [unique_array_api] + kwargs.get('c_args', []),
-    'cpp_args': [unique_array_api] + kwargs.get('cpp_args', []),
-  }
-  py3.extension_module(
-    ext,
-    install: true,
-    kwargs: kwargs + additions)
+  py3.extension_module(ext, install: true, kwargs: kwargs)
 endforeach
 
 if get_option('macosx') and host_machine.system() == 'darwin'