import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from matplotlib.gridspec import GridSpec


def make_ticklabels_invisible(fig):
    for i, ax in enumerate(fig.axes):
        ax.text(0.5, 0.5, "ax%d" % (i+1), va="center", ha="center")
        for tl in ax.get_xticklabels() + ax.get_yticklabels():
            tl.set_visible(False)


plt.figure()

gs = GridSpec(3, 3)
ax1 = plt.subplot(gs[0, :])
# identical to ax1 = plt.subplot(gs.new_subplotspec((0,0), colspan=3))
ax2 = plt.subplot(gs[1,:-1])
ax3 = plt.subplot(gs[1:, -1])
ax4 = plt.subplot(gs[-1,0])
ax5 = plt.subplot(gs[-1,-2])

plt.suptitle("GridSpec")
make_ticklabels_invisible(plt.gcf())

plt.show()