diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/matplotlib/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/matplotlib/default.nix
index 9f85cb06d97..b917575e239 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/matplotlib/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/matplotlib/default.nix
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 , enableTk ? false, tcl ? null, tk ? null, tkinter ? null, libX11 ? null
 , enableQt ? false, pyqt4
 , libcxx
+, Cocoa
 }:
 
 assert enableGhostscript -> ghostscript != null;
@@ -32,7 +33,8 @@ buildPythonPackage rec {
   XDG_RUNTIME_DIR = "/tmp";
 
   buildInputs = [ python which sphinx stdenv ]
-    ++ stdenv.lib.optional enableGhostscript ghostscript;
+    ++ stdenv.lib.optional enableGhostscript ghostscript
+    ++ stdenv.lib.optional stdenv.isDarwin [ Cocoa ];
 
   propagatedBuildInputs =
     [ cycler dateutil nose numpy pyparsing tornado freetype
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
index 243fe400ce9..e7592ce69a2 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
@@ -14281,6 +14281,7 @@ in {
   matplotlib = callPackage ../development/python-modules/matplotlib/default.nix {
     stdenv = if stdenv.isDarwin then pkgs.clangStdenv else pkgs.stdenv;
     enableGhostscript = true;
+    inherit (pkgs.darwin.apple_sdk.frameworks) Cocoa;
   };