[1] The central motif of the painting is a jumping cow, surrounded by a colorful, structured landscape.

Yellow Cow dates to Marc's formative phase, during which he developed the Farbsymbolik (colour symbolism) that permeates the painting.

For Marc, blue was equated with spirituality and maleness, yellow with femininity and sensuality, and red with the earth.

Marc's use of colour (in this work and others) was greatly influenced by the Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky.

[2] According to art historian Mark Rosenthal, Yellow Cow can be seen as a veiled depiction of Marc's wife, Maria Franck, whom he married the same year the painting was created.