Emil Sarkadi, originally Emil Schuller was a painter, draftsman, and lithographer. He was the brother of comedian and actor Aladár Sarkadi and Leó Sarkadi.

He was the son of Vilmos Schuller and Katalin Ungar. He began working as an apprentice lithographer at the Kosmos art institute. It was here that his talent was discovered. He completed evening classes at the capital's industrial art school, where he came under the tutelage of Pál Horti. Around this time, his first, still somewhat uncharacteristic drawings appeared in the magazine Művészvilág (Art World).

Sarkadi illustrated several issues of Művészvilág. He later went to Vienna, where he enrolled at the academy, but was not particularly enthusiastic about the teaching there. In the meantime, to make a living, he made drawings for Wiener Mode, mainly carpet designs. After a year in Vienna, he returned to Budapest, where he began studying at the School of Applied Arts and then became a student at the School of Design. He participated in an exhibition at the Museum of Applied Arts with several designs. In 1902, he left the school of design and went to Munich, where he became a student of Ludwig Herterich and Simon Hollósy. In 1903, he moved to Paris, where he spent two years studying and working, then went to London with the aim of moving to America if he could save enough money. However, despite struggling for four years, his plan never came to fruition.

His works can be found in many places: decorative drawings, book covers and illustrations, ex libris and posters. At home, he mainly worked for the Singer and Wolfner publishing house, the Révai brothers and several magazines. Művészet also frequently published his header drawings. In addition, his works appeared in the columns of Jugend, Simplicissimus and Rire, but he was also constantly employed by several prominent foreign literary companies. He illustrated the first Hungarian edition of Oscar Wilde's Salome, published by Révai and Salamon in 1907.