diff --git a/src/mpl_widget.ts b/src/mpl_widget.ts
index 7e839f92..7aa7d76c 100644
--- a/src/mpl_widget.ts
+++ b/src/mpl_widget.ts
@@ -757,6 +757,7 @@ export class MPLCanvasView extends DOMWidgetView {
                 y: y,
                 button: event.button,
                 step: event.step,
+                modifiers: utils.getModifiers(event),
                 guiEvent: utils.get_simple_keys(event),
             });
         };
diff --git a/src/utils.ts b/src/utils.ts
index 63444298..7705f5e6 100644
--- a/src/utils.ts
+++ b/src/utils.ts
@@ -33,3 +33,20 @@ export function getContext(canvas: HTMLCanvasElement) {
     }
     return context;
 }
+
+export function getModifiers(event: MouseEvent) {
+    const mods = [];
+    if (event.ctrlKey) {
+        mods.push('ctrl');
+    }
+    if (event.altKey) {
+        mods.push('alt');
+    }
+    if (event.shiftKey) {
+        mods.push('shift');
+    }
+    if (event.metaKey) {
+        mods.push('meta');
+    }
+    return mods;
+}