diff --git a/INSTALL.rst b/INSTALL.rst
index e798e1fedf39..bb2402ede7da 100644
--- a/INSTALL.rst
+++ b/INSTALL.rst
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ Matplotlib requires the following dependencies:
   * `pytz <http://pytz.sourceforge.net/>`__
   * FreeType (>= 2.3)
   * `cycler <http://matplotlib.org/cycler/>`__ (>= 0.10.0)
-  * `six <https://pypi.python.org/pypi/six>`_
+  * `six <https://pypi.python.org/pypi/six>`_ (>= 1.10)
   * `kiwisolver <https://github.com/nucleic/kiwi>`__ (>= 1.0.0)
 
 Optionally, you can also install a number of packages to enable better user
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ etc., you can install the following:
     <https://libav.org/avconv.html>`_: for saving movies;
   * `ImageMagick <https://www.imagemagick.org/script/index.php>`_: for saving
     animated gifs;
-  * `Pillow <https://pillow.readthedocs.io/en/latest/>`_ (>=2.0): for a larger selection of
+  * `Pillow <https://pillow.readthedocs.io/en/latest/>`_ (>=3.4): for a larger selection of
     image file formats: JPEG, BMP, and TIFF image files;
   * `LaTeX <https://miktex.org/>`_ and `GhostScript
     <https://ghostscript.com/download/>`_ (for rendering text with LaTeX).
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/backend_bases.py b/lib/matplotlib/backend_bases.py
index 2e7499a7758a..5e9aed3cf332 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/backend_bases.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/backend_bases.py
@@ -55,7 +55,12 @@
 
 try:
     from PIL import Image
-    _has_pil = True
+    from PIL import PILLOW_VERSION
+    from distutils.version import LooseVersion
+    if LooseVersion(PILLOW_VERSION) >= LooseVersion("3.4"):
+        _has_pil = True
+    else:
+        _has_pil = False
     del Image
 except ImportError:
     _has_pil = False
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_agg.py b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_agg.py
index bf4b85032a80..1cfa726b7851 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_agg.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_agg.py
@@ -42,11 +42,10 @@
 from matplotlib.backends._backend_agg import RendererAgg as _RendererAgg
 from matplotlib import _png
 
-try:
+from matplotlib.backend_bases import _has_pil
+
+if _has_pil:
     from PIL import Image
-    _has_pil = True
-except ImportError:
-    _has_pil = False
 
 backend_version = 'v2.2'