diff --git a/0001-Use-supported-attribute-to-check-pillow-version.patch b/0001-Use-supported-attribute-to-check-pillow-version.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6639aac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/0001-Use-supported-attribute-to-check-pillow-version.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+From 3369e3bc24f98f430593a5d15d8e6d6deb14356e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: Thomas A Caswell <tcaswell@gmail.com>
+Date: Fri, 3 Jan 2020 20:24:07 -0500
+Subject: [PATCH] FIX: use supported attribute to check pillow version
+
+the PILLOW_VERSION attribute was deprecated in pillow 5.2 and removed
+in pillow 7.0.  The __version__ attribute is present in the minimum
+version we check (3.4).
+
+closes #16083
+---
+ lib/matplotlib/backend_bases.py | 2 +-
+ 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
+
+diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/backend_bases.py b/lib/matplotlib/backend_bases.py
+index 5f73911670d..650446cbdb2 100644
+--- a/lib/matplotlib/backend_bases.py
++++ b/lib/matplotlib/backend_bases.py
+@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@
+ from matplotlib.path import Path
+ 
+ try:
+-    from PIL import PILLOW_VERSION
++    from PIL import __version__ as PILLOW_VERSION
+     from distutils.version import LooseVersion
+     if LooseVersion(PILLOW_VERSION) >= "3.4":
+         _has_pil = True
diff --git a/python-matplotlib.spec b/python-matplotlib.spec
index 3a5ac09..8591e06 100644
--- a/python-matplotlib.spec
+++ b/python-matplotlib.spec
@@ -64,6 +64,9 @@ Patch0002:      0001-Use-packaged-jquery-and-jquery-ui.patch
 Patch0003:      0001-Fix-env-override-in-WebAgg-backend-test.patch
 # https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/pull/15763
 Patch0004:      0001-Skip-webagg-test-if-tornado-is-not-available.patch
+# https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/pull/16086
+Patch0005:      0001-Use-supported-attribute-to-check-pillow-version.patch
+
 
 # Fedora-specific patches; see:
 # https://github.com/fedora-python/matplotlib/tree/fedora-patches
@@ -270,6 +273,8 @@ Requires:       python3-matplotlib%{?_isa} = %{version}-%{release}
 
 %patch0004 -p1
 
+%patch0005 -p1
+
 # Fedora-specific patches follow:
 %patch1001 -p1
 # Updated test images for new FreeType.