diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index e3fbd98..fb40ccb 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 build
 node_modules
+.vscode
diff --git a/binding.gyp b/binding.gyp
index fe4edd9..bcc0dc2 100644
--- a/binding.gyp
+++ b/binding.gyp
@@ -3,6 +3,12 @@
     {
       "target_name": "matplotlib",
       "sources": [ "src/matplotlib.cc" ],
+      "include_dirs": [
+        "<!(python -c 'import numpy; print(numpy.get_include())')"
+      ],
+      "libraries": [
+        "-ldl"
+      ],
       "conditions": [
         ['OS=="mac"', {
             "xcode_settings": {
@@ -18,7 +24,7 @@
             "<!(python-config --cflags)"
           ],
           "libraries": [
-            "<!(python-config --libs)"
+            "<!(python-config --libs)",
           ]
         }]
       ]
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index 9d18b99..054410d 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 {
   "name": "matplotnode",
-  "version": "0.3.1",
+  "version": "0.3.2",
   "lockfileVersion": 1
 }
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index e21d45e..a23e743 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "matplotnode",
-  "version": "0.3.1",
+  "version": "0.3.2",
   "description": "C++ bindings for Node.js exposing a subset of matplotlib's functionality through the CPython API.",
   "main": "src/matplotlib.js",
   "scripts": {
diff --git a/src/matplotlib.h b/src/matplotlib.h
index 93a49c1..29556f8 100644
--- a/src/matplotlib.h
+++ b/src/matplotlib.h
@@ -5,10 +5,19 @@
 #include <string>
 #include <Python.h>
 
+#ifdef linux
+	#include <dlfcn.h>
+#endif
+
 #if PY_MAJOR_VERSION >= 3
 	#define PyString_FromString PyUnicode_FromString
 #endif
 
+#ifndef WITHOUT_NUMPY
+	#define NPY_NO_DEPRECATED_API NPY_1_7_API_VERSION
+	#include <numpy/arrayobject.h>
+#endif // WITHOUT_NUMPY
+
 namespace plt {
 	struct interpreter {
 	public:
@@ -36,6 +45,22 @@ namespace plt {
 			return context;
 		}
 	private:
+#ifndef WITHOUT_NUMPY
+#  if PY_MAJOR_VERSION >= 3
+
+    void *import_numpy() {
+        import_array(); // initialize C-API
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
+#  else
+
+    void import_numpy() {
+        import_array(); // initialize C-API
+    }
+
+#  endif
+#endif
 		interpreter() {
 #if PY_MAJOR_VERSION >= 3
 			wchar_t name[] = L"matplotnode";
@@ -43,8 +68,21 @@ namespace plt {
 			char name[] = "matplotnode";
 #endif
 			Py_SetProgramName(name);
+
+#ifdef linux
+#if PY_MAJOR_VERSION >= 3
+			dlopen("libpython3.so", RTLD_LAZY | RTLD_GLOBAL);
+#else
+			dlopen("libpython2.7.so", RTLD_LAZY | RTLD_GLOBAL);
+#endif
+#endif
+
 			Py_Initialize();
 
+#ifndef WITHOUT_NUMPY
+        import_numpy(); // initialize numpy C-API
+#endif
+
 			PyObject *matplotlibname = PyString_FromString("matplotlib");
 			PyObject* matplotlib = PyImport_Import(matplotlibname);
 			Py_DECREF(matplotlibname);