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The strong mass loss of Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs) is thought to play acritical role in massive-star evolution, but their place in the evolutionarysequence remains debated. A key to understanding their peculiar instability istheir high observed luminosities, which often depends on uncertain distances.Here we report direct distances and space motions of four canonical Milky WayLBVs---AG~Car, HR~Car, HD~168607, and (candidate) Hen~3-519---from the Gaiafirst data release. Whereas the distances of HR~Car and HD~168607 areconsistent with previous literature estimates within the considerableuncertainties, Hen~3-519 and AG~Car, both at $\sim$2~kpc, are much closer thanthe 6--8~kpc distances previously assumed. As a result, Hen~3-519 moves farfrom the locus of LBVs on the HR Diagram, making it a much less luminousobject. For AG~Car, considered a defining example of a classical LBV, its lowerluminosity would also move it off the S~Dor instability strip. Lowerluminosities allow both AG~Car and Hen~3-519 to have passed through a previousred supergiant phase, lower the mass estimates for their shell nebulae, andimply that binary evolution is needed to account for their peculiarities. Theseresults may also impact our understanding of LBVs as potential supernovaprogenitors and their isolated environments. Improved distances will beprovided in the Gaia second data release, which will include additional LBVs.AG~Car and Hen~3-519 hint that this new information may alter our traditionalview of LBVs.

The canonical Luminous Blue Variable AG Car and its neighbor Hen 3-519 are much closer than previously assumed