diff --git a/src/ridgeplot/_figure_factory.py b/src/ridgeplot/_figure_factory.py
index dbe94bbe..482f645d 100644
--- a/src/ridgeplot/_figure_factory.py
+++ b/src/ridgeplot/_figure_factory.py
@@ -127,6 +127,8 @@ def get_xy_extrema(densities: Densities) -> tuple[Numeric, Numeric, Numeric, Num
     ... )
     (-2, 4, 0, 4)
     """
+    if len(densities) == 0:
+        raise ValueError("The densities array should not be empty.")
     x_flat: list[Numeric] = []
     y_flat: list[Numeric] = []
     for row in densities:
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_figure_factory.py b/tests/unit/test_figure_factory.py
index 54841114..4072b3b6 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_figure_factory.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_figure_factory.py
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ class TestGetXYExtrema:
 
     def test_raise_for_empty_sequence(self) -> None:
         # Fails for empty sequence
-        with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="arg is an empty sequence"):
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="The densities array should not be empty"):
             get_xy_extrema(densities=[])
 
     def test_raise_for_non_2d_array(self) -> None: