diff --git a/src/pymmcore_widgets/_vispy_plot.py b/src/pymmcore_widgets/_vispy_plot.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cb442918f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/pymmcore_widgets/_vispy_plot.py
@@ -0,0 +1,395 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from enum import Enum
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any, Literal, cast
+
+from vispy import scene
+
+if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    # just here cause vispy has poor type hints
+    from collections.abc import Sequence
+    from typing import TypedDict, Unpack
+
+    import numpy as np
+
+    class WidgetKwargs(TypedDict, total=False):
+        pos: tuple[float, float]
+        size: tuple[float, float]
+        border_color: str
+        border_width: float
+        bgcolor: str
+        padding: float
+        margin: float
+
+    class TextVisualKwargs(TypedDict, total=False):
+        text: str
+        color: str
+        bold: bool
+        italic: bool
+        face: str
+        font_size: float
+        pos: tuple[float, float] | tuple[float, float, float]
+        rotation: float
+        method: Literal["cpu", "gpu"]
+        depth_test: bool
+
+    class AxisWidgetKwargs(TypedDict, total=False):
+        orientation: Literal["left", "bottom"]
+        tick_direction: tuple[int, int]
+        axis_color: str
+        tick_color: str
+        text_color: str
+        minor_tick_length: float
+        major_tick_length: float
+        tick_width: float
+        tick_label_margin: float
+        tick_font_size: float
+        axis_width: float
+        axis_label: str
+        axis_label_margin: float
+        axis_font_size: float
+        font_size: float  # overrides tick_font_size and axis_font_size
+
+    class LineKwargs(TypedDict, total=False):
+        color: str
+        symbol: str
+        line_kind: Literal["-"]
+        width: float  # if width == 0, lines will not be shown
+        marker_size: float
+        edge_color: str
+        face_color: str
+        edge_width: float
+        connect: str | np.ndarray
+
+    class Grid(scene.Grid):
+        def add_view(
+            self,
+            row: int | None = None,
+            col: int | None = None,
+            row_span: int = 1,
+            col_span: int = 1,
+            **kwargs: Unpack[WidgetKwargs],
+        ) -> scene.ViewBox:
+            super().add_view(...)
+
+        def add_widget(
+            self,
+            widget: None | scene.Widget = None,
+            row: int | None = None,
+            col: int | None = None,
+            row_span: int = 1,
+            col_span: int = 1,
+            **kwargs: Unpack[WidgetKwargs],
+        ) -> scene.Widget:
+            super().add_widget(...)
+
+
+__all__ = ["PlotWidget"]
+
+
+DEFAULT_AXIS_KWARGS: AxisWidgetKwargs = {
+    "text_color": "w",
+    "axis_color": "#AAAAAA",
+    "tick_color": "#AAAAAA",
+    "tick_width": 1,
+    "tick_font_size": 7,
+    "tick_label_margin": 18,
+    "axis_label_margin": 50,
+    "minor_tick_length": 4,
+    "major_tick_length": 7,
+    "axis_width": 1.5,
+    "axis_font_size": 10,
+}
+
+
+class Component(str, Enum):
+    PAD_LEFT = "pad_left"
+    PAD_RIGHT = "pad_right"
+    PAD_BOTTOM = "pad_bottom"
+    TITLE = "title"
+    CBAR_TOP = "cbar_top"
+    CBAR_LEFT = "cbar_left"
+    CBAR_RIGHT = "cbar_right"
+    CBAR_BOTTOM = "cbar_bottom"
+    YAXIS = "yaxis"
+    XAXIS = "xaxis"
+    XLABEL = "xlabel"
+    YLABEL = "ylabel"
+
+    def __str__(self) -> str:
+        return self.value
+
+
+class PlotWidget(scene.Widget):
+    """Widget to facilitate plotting.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    fg_color : str
+        The default color for the plot.
+    xlabel : str
+        The x-axis label.
+    ylabel : str
+        The y-axis label.
+    title : str
+        The title of the plot.
+    lock_axis : {'x', 'y', None}
+        Prevent panning and zooming along a particular axis.
+    **widget_kwargs : dict
+        Keyword arguments to pass to the parent class.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        fg_color: str = "k",
+        xlabel: str = "",
+        ylabel: str = "",
+        title: str = "",
+        lock_axis: Literal["x", "y", None] = None,
+        **widget_kwargs: Unpack[WidgetKwargs],
+    ) -> None:
+        self._fg_color = fg_color
+        self._visuals: list[scene.VisualNode] = []
+        super().__init__(**widget_kwargs)
+        self.unfreeze()
+        self.grid = cast("Grid", self.add_grid(spacing=0, margin=10))
+
+        title_kwargs: TextVisualKwargs = {
+            "font_size": 14,
+            "color": "w",
+            "face": "Open Sans",
+        }
+        label_kwargs: TextVisualKwargs = {
+            "font_size": 10,
+            "color": "w",
+            "face": "Open Sans",
+        }
+        self._title = scene.Label(str(title), **title_kwargs)
+        self._xlabel = scene.Label(str(xlabel), **label_kwargs)
+        self._ylabel = scene.Label(str(ylabel), rotation=-90, **label_kwargs)
+
+        axis_kwargs: AxisWidgetKwargs = DEFAULT_AXIS_KWARGS
+        self.yaxis = scene.AxisWidget(orientation="left", **axis_kwargs)
+        self.xaxis = scene.AxisWidget(orientation="bottom", **axis_kwargs)
+
+        # 2D Plot layout:
+        #
+        #         c0        c1      c2      c3      c4      c5         c6
+        #     +----------+-------+-------+-------+---------+---------+-----------+
+        #  r0 |          |                       |  title  |         |           |
+        #     |          +-----------------------+---------+---------+           |
+        #  r1 |          |                       |  cbar   |         |           |
+        #     |----------+-------+-------+-------+---------+---------+ ----------|
+        #  r2 | pad_left | cbar  | ylabel| yaxis |  view   | cbar    | pad_right |
+        #     |----------+-------+-------+-------+---------+---------+ ----------|
+        #  r3 |          |                       |  xaxis  |         |           |
+        #     |          +-----------------------+---------+---------+           |
+        #  r4 |          |                       |  xlabel |         |           |
+        #     |          +-----------------------+---------+---------+           |
+        #  r5 |          |                       |  cbar   |         |           |
+        #     |---------+------------------------+---------+---------+-----------|
+        #  r6 |                                 | pad_bottom |                   |
+        #     +---------+------------------------+---------+---------+-----------+
+
+        self._grid_wdgs: dict[Component, scene.Widget] = {}
+        for name, row, col, widget in [
+            (Component.PAD_LEFT, 2, 0, None),
+            (Component.PAD_RIGHT, 2, 6, None),
+            (Component.PAD_BOTTOM, 6, 4, None),
+            (Component.TITLE, 0, 4, self._title),
+            (Component.CBAR_TOP, 1, 4, None),
+            (Component.CBAR_LEFT, 2, 1, None),
+            (Component.CBAR_RIGHT, 2, 5, None),
+            (Component.CBAR_BOTTOM, 5, 4, None),
+            (Component.YAXIS, 2, 3, self.yaxis),
+            (Component.XAXIS, 3, 4, self.xaxis),
+            (Component.XLABEL, 4, 4, self._xlabel),
+            (Component.YLABEL, 2, 2, self._ylabel),
+        ]:
+            self._grid_wdgs[name] = wdg = self.grid.add_widget(widget, row=row, col=col)
+            # If we don't set max size, they will expand to fill the entire grid
+            # occluding pretty much everything else.
+            if str(name).startswith(("cbar", "pad")):
+                if name in {
+                    Component.PAD_LEFT,
+                    Component.PAD_RIGHT,
+                    Component.CBAR_LEFT,
+                    Component.CBAR_RIGHT,
+                }:
+                    wdg.width_max = 2
+                else:
+                    wdg.height_max = 2
+
+        # The main view into which plots are added
+        self._view = self.grid.add_view(row=2, col=4)
+
+        # NOTE: this is a mess of hardcoded values... not sure whether they will work
+        # cross-platform.  Note that `width_max` and `height_max` of 2 is actually
+        # *less* visible than 0 for some reason.  They should also be extracted into
+        # some sort of `hide/show` logic for each component
+        self._grid_wdgs[Component.YAXIS].width_max = 30  # otherwise it takes too much
+        self._grid_wdgs[Component.PAD_LEFT].width_max = 20  # otherwise you get clipping
+        self._grid_wdgs[Component.XAXIS].height_max = 20  # otherwise it takes too much
+        self.ylabel = ylabel
+        self.xlabel = xlabel
+        self.title = title
+
+        # VIEWBOX (this has to go last, see vispy #1748)
+        self.camera = self._view.camera = PanZoom1DCamera(lock_axis)
+        # this has to come after camera is set
+        self.xaxis.link_view(self._view)
+        self.yaxis.link_view(self._view)
+        self.freeze()
+
+    @property
+    def title(self) -> str:
+        """The title label."""
+        return self._title.text  # type: ignore [no-any-return]
+
+    @title.setter
+    def title(self, text: str) -> None:
+        """Set the title of the plot."""
+        self._title.text = text
+        wdg = self._grid_wdgs[Component.TITLE]
+        wdg.height_min = wdg.height_max = 30 if text else 2
+
+    @property
+    def xlabel(self) -> str:
+        """The x-axis label."""
+        return self._xlabel.text  # type: ignore [no-any-return]
+
+    @xlabel.setter
+    def xlabel(self, text: str) -> None:
+        """Set the x-axis label."""
+        self._xlabel.text = text
+        wdg = self._grid_wdgs[Component.XLABEL]
+        wdg.height_min = wdg.height_max = 40 if text else 2
+
+    @property
+    def ylabel(self) -> str:
+        """The y-axis label."""
+        return self._ylabel.text  # type: ignore [no-any-return]
+
+    @ylabel.setter
+    def ylabel(self, text: str) -> None:
+        """Set the x-axis label."""
+        self._ylabel.text = text
+        wdg = self._grid_wdgs[Component.YLABEL]
+        wdg.width_min = wdg.width_max = 20 if text else 2
+
+    def lock_axis(self, axis: Literal["x", "y", None]) -> None:
+        """Prevent panning and zooming along a particular axis."""
+        self.camera._axis = axis
+        # self.camera.set_range()
+
+    def plot(self, data: Any, **kwargs: Unpack[LineKwargs]) -> scene.LinePlot:
+        """Plot line data.
+
+        Parameters
+        ----------
+        data : array-like
+            Arguments can be passed as `(Y,)`, `(X, Y)`, or `np.array((X, Y))`.
+        **kwargs : dict
+            Keyword arguments to pass to the `LinePlot` constructor.
+        """
+        kwargs.setdefault("marker_size", 0)
+        kwargs.setdefault("width", 4)
+        kwargs.setdefault("color", "#1F77B4")
+        line = scene.LinePlot(data, **kwargs)
+        self._view.add(line)
+        self.camera.set_range()
+        self._visuals.append(line)
+        return line
+
+
+class PanZoom1DCamera(scene.cameras.PanZoomCamera):
+    """Camera that allows panning and zooming along one axis only.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    axis : {'x', 'y', None}
+        The axis along which to allow panning and zooming.
+    *args : tuple
+        Positional arguments to pass to the parent class.
+    **kwargs : dict
+        Keyword arguments to pass to the parent class.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(
+        self, axis: Literal["x", "y", None] = None, *args: Any, **kwargs: Any
+    ) -> None:
+        self._axis: Literal["x", "y", None] = axis
+        super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+
+    @property
+    def axis_index(self) -> Literal[0, 1, None]:
+        """Return the index of the axis along which to pan and zoom."""
+        if self._axis in ("x", 0):
+            return 0
+        elif self._axis in ("y", 1):
+            return 1
+        return None
+
+    def zoom(
+        self,
+        factor: float | tuple[float, float],
+        center: tuple[float, ...] | None = None,
+    ) -> None:
+        """Zoom the camera by `factor` around `center`."""
+        if self.axis_index is None:
+            super().zoom(factor, center=center)
+            return
+
+        if isinstance(factor, float):
+            factor = (factor, factor)
+        _factor = list(factor)
+        _factor[self.axis_index] = 1
+        super().zoom(_factor, center=center)
+
+    def pan(self, pan: Sequence[float]) -> None:
+        """Pan the camera by `pan`."""
+        if self.axis_index is None:
+            super().pan(pan)
+            return
+        _pan = list(pan)
+        _pan[self.axis_index] = 0
+        super().pan(*_pan)
+
+    def set_range(
+        self,
+        x: tuple | None = None,
+        y: tuple | None = None,
+        z: tuple | None = None,
+        margin: float = 0,  # overriding to create a different default from super()
+    ) -> None:
+        """Reset the camera view to the specified range."""
+        super().set_range(x, y, z, margin)
+
+
+class Figure(scene.SceneCanvas):
+    """Create a figure window."""
+
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        bgcolor: str = "k",
+        size: tuple[int, int] = (800, 600),
+        show: bool = True,
+        keys: str = "interactive",
+        **kwargs: Any,
+    ) -> None:
+        self._plot_widgets: list[PlotWidget] = []
+        self._grid: scene.Grid = None  # initialize before the freeze occurs
+        super().__init__(bgcolor=bgcolor, keys=keys, show=show, size=size, **kwargs)
+        self._grid = cast("scene.Grid", self.central_widget.add_grid())
+        self._grid._default_class = PlotWidget
+
+    @property
+    def plot_widgets(self) -> tuple[PlotWidget, ...]:
+        """List of the associated PlotWidget instances."""
+        return tuple(self._plot_widgets)
+
+    def __getitem__(self, idxs: int | tuple[int, int]) -> PlotWidget:
+        """Get an axis."""
+        pw = cast("PlotWidget", self._grid[idxs])
+        self._plot_widgets += [pw]
+        return pw
diff --git a/src/pymmcore_widgets/views/_spectra_viewer.py b/src/pymmcore_widgets/views/_spectra_viewer.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c1d60d469
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/pymmcore_widgets/views/_spectra_viewer.py
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+from fpbase import get_filter, get_fluorophore, models
+from vispy import scene
+
+from pymmcore_widgets._vispy_plot import PlotWidget
+
+
+class SpectraViewer:
+    def __init__(self) -> None:
+        self.canvas = scene.SceneCanvas(keys="interactive", show=True, size=(900, 400))
+        self.view = self.canvas.central_widget.add_view()
+        self.plot = PlotWidget(
+            bgcolor="#121212",
+            lock_axis="y",
+            xlabel="Wavelength (nm)",
+            # ylabel="Intensity",
+        )
+        self.plot.yaxis.visible = False
+        self.view.add_widget(self.plot)
+
+    def add_spectrum(self, name: str) -> None:
+        spectra: list[tuple[models.Spectrum, str]] = []
+        try:
+            spectra.append((get_filter(name).spectrum, "#AAAAAA"))
+        except ValueError:
+            fluor = get_fluorophore(name)
+            for state in fluor.states:
+                if state.excitation_spectrum:
+                    spectra.append((state.excitation_spectrum, state.exhex))
+                if state.emission_spectrum:
+                    spectra.append((state.emission_spectrum, state.emhex))
+
+        for spectrum, color in spectra:
+            self.plot.plot(spectrum.data, color=color)
diff --git a/x.py b/x.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c20ddac76
--- /dev/null
+++ b/x.py
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+from vispy import app
+
+from pymmcore_widgets.views._spectra_viewer import SpectraViewer
+
+widget = SpectraViewer()
+widget.add_spectrum("mTurquoise")
+widget.add_spectrum("mStayGold")
+widget.add_spectrum("mCherry")
+widget.add_spectrum("Chroma ET525/50m")
+app.run()