Specifying the order of matplotlib layers

Question

Suppose I run the following script:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

lineWidth = 20
plt.figure()
plt.plot([0,0],[-1,1], lw=lineWidth, c=\'b\')
plt.plot([-1,1         


        

Answer 1

The layers are stacked from bottom to top in the same order of the corresponding calls to the plot function.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

lineWidth = 30
plt.figure()

plt.subplot(2, 1, 1)                               # upper plot
plt.plot([-1, 1], [-1, 1], lw=5*lineWidth, c='b')  # bottom blue
plt.plot([-1, 1], [-1, 1], lw=3*lineWidth, c='r')  # middle red
plt.plot([-1, 1], [-1, 1], lw=lineWidth, c='g')    # top green

plt.subplot(2, 1, 2)                               # lower plot
plt.plot([-1, 1], [-1, 1], lw=5*lineWidth, c='g')  # bottom green
plt.plot([-1, 1], [-1, 1], lw=3*lineWidth, c='r')  # middle red
plt.plot([-1, 1], [-1, 1], lw=lineWidth, c='b')    # top blue

plt.show()

It clearly emerges from the figure below that the plots are arranged according to the bottom first, top last rule.