--- a/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py	2016-04-04 12:54:26.427194940 +0200
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py	2016-04-04 12:56:12.662590255 +0200
@@ -682,9 +682,12 @@
 
     _file = _decode_filesystem_path(__file__)
     path = os.sep.join([os.path.dirname(_file), 'mpl-data'])
+    path = '/usr/share/matplotlib/mpl-data'
     if os.path.isdir(path):
         return path
 
+    raise RuntimeError('Could not find the matplotlib data files')
+
     # setuptools' namespace_packages may highjack this init file
     # so need to try something known to be in matplotlib, not basemap
     import matplotlib.afm
@@ -812,7 +815,7 @@
                     home, '.matplotlib', 'matplotlibrc')
             return fname
 
-    path = get_data_path()  # guaranteed to exist or raise
+    path = '/etc'  # guaranteed to exist or raise
     fname = os.path.join(path, 'matplotlibrc')
     if not os.path.exists(fname):
         warnings.warn('Could not find matplotlibrc; using defaults')
--- a/lib/matplotlib/cbook.py	2016-05-20 14:14:52.000000000 +0200
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/cbook.py	2016-05-20 19:28:57.373601582 +0200
@@ -823,8 +823,7 @@ def get_sample_data(fname, asfileobj=Tru
     if matplotlib.rcParams['examples.directory']:
         root = matplotlib.rcParams['examples.directory']
     else:
-        root = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__),
-                            "mpl-data", "sample_data")
+        root = os.path.join(matplotlib._get_data_path(), 'sample_data')
     path = os.path.join(root, fname)
 
     if asfileobj: