diff --git a/pymoo/core/plot.py b/pymoo/core/plot.py
index e9e7cfea..e782f1cf 100644
--- a/pymoo/core/plot.py
+++ b/pymoo/core/plot.py
@@ -31,12 +31,15 @@ def __init__(self,
         # change the font of plots to serif (looks better)
         plt.rc('font', family='serif')
 
-        # the matplotlib classes
+        # the matplotlib classes — publicly accessible after do()/show()/save()
+        # you can also use get_figure() and get_axes() helper methods
         self.fig = fig
         self.ax = ax
         self.figsize = figsize
 
         # whether the figure should be closed when object is destroyed
+        # set to False if you want to keep the figure alive after the Plot object
+        # goes out of scope (e.g. to further customise or display it)
         self.close_on_destroy = close_on_destroy
 
         # the title of the figure - can also be a list if subfigures
@@ -172,10 +175,19 @@ def show(self, **kwargs):
         # in a notebook the plot method need not to be called explicitly
         if not in_notebook() and matplotlib.get_backend().lower() != "agg":
             plt.show(**kwargs)
-            plt.close()
+            # NOTE: plt.close() removed — callers can now close the figure themselves
+            # if needed, e.g.: plot.fig.savefig(...); plt.close(plot.fig)
 
         return self
 
+    def get_figure(self):
+        self.plot_if_not_done_yet()
+        return self.fig
+
+    def get_axes(self):
+        self.plot_if_not_done_yet()
+        return self.ax
+
     def save(self, fname, **kwargs):
         self.plot_if_not_done_yet()
         set_if_none(kwargs, "bbox_inches", "tight")