diff --git a/IPython/zmq/pylab/backend_inline.py b/IPython/zmq/pylab/backend_inline.py
index 469d74ca9cb..ddad82c8230 100644
--- a/IPython/zmq/pylab/backend_inline.py
+++ b/IPython/zmq/pylab/backend_inline.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 
 # Local imports.
 from IPython.config.configurable import SingletonConfigurable
+from IPython.core.display import display
 from IPython.core.displaypub import publish_display_data
 from IPython.core.pylabtools import print_figure, select_figure_format
 from IPython.utils.traitlets import Dict, Instance, CaselessStrEnum, CBool
@@ -102,7 +103,7 @@ def show(close=None):
         close = InlineBackend.instance().close_figures
     try:
         for figure_manager in Gcf.get_all_fig_managers():
-            send_figure(figure_manager.canvas.figure)
+            display(figure_manager.canvas.figure)
     finally:
         show._to_draw = []
         if close:
@@ -138,7 +139,7 @@ def draw_if_interactive():
     
     if not hasattr(fig, 'show'):
         # Queue up `fig` for display
-        fig.show = lambda *a: send_figure(fig)
+        fig.show = lambda *a: display(fig)
 
     # If matplotlib was manually set to non-interactive mode, this function
     # should be a no-op (otherwise we'll generate duplicate plots, since a user
@@ -191,7 +192,7 @@ def flush_figures():
         active = set([fm.canvas.figure for fm in Gcf.get_all_fig_managers()])
         for fig in [ fig for fig in show._to_draw if fig in active ]:
             try:
-                send_figure(fig)
+                display(fig)
             except Exception as e:
                 # safely show traceback if in IPython, else raise
                 try: