diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_cairo.py b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_cairo.py
index 547a2ae9271f..d13de790aaf2 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_cairo.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_cairo.py
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@
 try:
     import cairo
     if cairo.version_info < (1, 14, 0):  # Introduced set_device_scale.
-        raise ImportError
+        raise ImportError(f"Cairo backend requires cairo>=1.14.0, "
+                          f"but only {cairo.version_info} is available")
 except ImportError:
     try:
         import cairocffi as cairo
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_gtk3.py b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_gtk3.py
index dbb0982ee752..1517d43d11e3 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_gtk3.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_gtk3.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
 except ValueError as e:
     # in this case we want to re-raise as ImportError so the
     # auto-backend selection logic correctly skips.
-    raise ImportError from e
+    raise ImportError(e) from e
 
 from gi.repository import Gio, GLib, GObject, Gtk, Gdk
 from . import _backend_gtk
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_gtk4.py b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_gtk4.py
index 328819292018..48f23c0498c7 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_gtk4.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_gtk4.py
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 except ValueError as e:
     # in this case we want to re-raise as ImportError so the
     # auto-backend selection logic correctly skips.
-    raise ImportError from e
+    raise ImportError(e) from e
 
 from gi.repository import Gio, GLib, Gtk, Gdk, GdkPixbuf
 from . import _backend_gtk