This study aims to examine the effects of secondary school students' anxiety towards the visual arts lesson and their participation in this lesson. In the study, students' levels of anxiety and participation in the visual arts lesson were examined together with variables such as gender, grade level and academic achievement. Secondary school students studying in Turkey and the sample of the research consisted of 286 students studying in secondary schools in Ankara, Konya and Mersin provinces. Anxiety Scale for Visual Arts Lesson and Visual Arts Class Participation Scale developed by the researcher were used as data collection tools. In addition, the demographic information of the students was obtained with the personal information form developed by the researcher. In the analysis of the data, descriptive analysis, independent groups t-test, F test and Regression Analysis techniques were used. According to the results obtained from the study, the secondary school students' anxiety levels for the visual arts lesson were found to be moderate and below, but their participation in the lesson was at a high level. In addition, it was determined that the anxiety towards the visual arts lesson predicted the participation in the lesson at a higher level, but affected it negatively. According to the grade level and achievement level of the students participating in the study, their participation in the visual arts lesson and their anxiety levels for the lesson differ. However, no significant difference was found in the dependent variables related to gender.