Is there a way to detach matplotlib plots so that the computation can continue?

Use matplotlib's calls that won't block:

Using draw():

from matplotlib.pyplot import plot, draw, show
plot([1,2,3])
draw()
print('continue computation')

# at the end call show to ensure window won't close.
show()

Using interactive mode:

from matplotlib.pyplot import plot, ion, show
ion() # enables interactive mode
plot([1,2,3]) # result shows immediatelly (implicit draw())

print('continue computation')

# at the end call show to ensure window won't close.
show()

Use the keyword 'block' to override the blocking behavior, e.g.

from matplotlib.pyplot import show, plot

plot(1)  
show(block=False)

# your code

to continue your code.

It is better to always check with the library you are using if it supports usage in a non-blocking way.

But if you want a more generic solution, or if there is no other way, you can run anything that blocks in a separated process by using the multprocessing module included in python. Computation will continue:

from multiprocessing import Process
from matplotlib.pyplot import plot, show

def plot_graph(*args):
    for data in args:
        plot(data)
    show()

p = Process(target=plot_graph, args=([1, 2, 3],))
p.start()

print 'yay'
print 'computation continues...'
print 'that rocks.'

print 'Now lets wait for the graph be closed to continue...:'
p.join()

That has the overhead of launching a new process, and is sometimes harder to debug on complex scenarios, so I'd prefer the other solution (using matplotlib's nonblocking API calls)