diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/pylab.py b/lib/matplotlib/pylab.py
index 2111d4fa734d..3b1c9f3e41cc 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/pylab.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/pylab.py
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@
 from __future__ import print_function
 import sys, warnings
 
-from cbook import flatten, is_string_like, exception_to_str, \
+from .cbook import flatten, is_string_like, exception_to_str, \
      silent_list, iterable, dedent
 
 from matplotlib import mpl  # pulls in most modules